Did the New England Patriots AFC East competitors do well in the 2020 NFL draft?
I have written extensively both before and post-draft about the New England Patriots success or lack thereof with their 2020 draft picks. I thought it was a mixed bag. I thought their strategy was totally flawed. They allocated their three top picks to defense. Bad decision.
The better and more necessary strategy was just the opposite: draft offense high and often. Tactically, they drafted some defensive players in their first three picks who may be decent. But, devoting their top 3 picks to defense resulted in a botched draft.
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The New England Patriots offense in 2019 cost them a run at a 7th Super Bowl title. Their all-world quarterback at the time couldn’t even rescue them from the poor stocking of their offensive skill positions. Those positions were totally inadequate.
Since the end of the 2019 season, the Patriots offense has, in fact, regressed. How could it not when they lost their hall of fame quarterback and not effectively replaced him? That alone consigns this offseason on offense to the NFL 2020 dustbin.
In addition, their defense lost in free agency. Big time. Key players went elsewhere. Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins, the underrated Danny Shelton, Elandon Roberts (a captain), and they dealt away Duron Harmon a big-play safety.
The Patriots may have stayed even on defense, maybe. But they didn’t get any better.
And their defense could not win against the best teams in the NFL last season. This bodes ill for any chance of being Super Bowl competitive in 2020.
So, in surveying the landscape vs. their AFC East opponents, one metric is, how did the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets do in their drafting? That’s as good a place as any to start.
This article will take a look at the New England Patriots AFC opponents success or lack thereof in their drafts to see how far all these teams’ draft efforts have taken them in trying to succeed New England as AFC East champions.
Buffalo Bills 2020 offseason
New England’s toughest opponent in 2019 when they were led by Tom Brady was the Buffalo Bills. They are well-coached by Sean McDermot (man, I like that guy) and they know what they are doing in personnel. I place the Buffalo Bills in the lead in the AFC East at present. The Patriots are behind.
So how did Buffalo fare in the 2020 offseason and did that give them an even greater advantage over the Patriots? Let’s take a look.
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The Bills traded their No. 22 first-round pick along with 5th and 6th round picks to the Minnesota Vikings for a really good wide receiver, Stefon Diggs. This was costly, but Diggs is a big-time player. This is a great first, fifth, and sixth-round pick for Buffalo.
Diggs is only 26 years old, in his prime and he elevates Buffalo’s offense to a new level. Nice move for the Bills. Very nice.
In the second round of the draft, the Bills took a defensive end for Iowa who had been mocked to the Patriots often, A. J. Epenesa. Another solid pick by Buffalo in the second round.
In the Third round, Buffalo took a running back Zack Moss of Utah. I really like Moss and I really like this pick. But it’s more bad news for New England. Buffalo clearly knows what they are doing in personnel.
I’ll just briefly mention two lower round picks I liked for Buffalo. One is Jake Fromm, the Georgia quarterback, who should have been taken by New England. Fromm was rated pretty highly and Buffalo already has a good quarterback in Josh Allen. But, having back-up quality is good. Competition is good. Buffalo’s drafting … is good.
They made the right move here while New England failed to even draft a quarterback at all in 2020. The other is Tyler Bass, a kicker from Georgia Southern who’d have been a better choice for New England than the kicker they drafted in the 5th round.
I just have to give the Bills a totally solid A, folks. Buffalo General Manager Brandon Beane is with “it”. I like his style. These picks may not all work out. They never do. But they were the RIGHT picks. That’s what matters.
Miami Dolphins 2020 offseason
I previously dubbed the Miami Dolphins as the “Patriots, South”. They have former New England Patriots defensive coordinator, Brian Flores as their head coach. “Flo” is well-liked. Really well-liked.
Flores has been a magnet for defecting Patriots players evidently seeking sanctuary from the dictatorial regime of Bill Belichick. This offseason, they signed one of New England’s top defensive players, Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts a serviceable linebacker (and former Patriots captain) and their valuable back-up center/guard Ted Karras to boot in free agency.
So, with these fine additions at New England’s expense in the bank, let’s explore how Miami fared in the draft.
The Dolphins rolled the dice on their first selection in the first round. Not on the talent, but on health. They selected quarterback Tua Tagovailoa from Alabama. Tua has had injury issues at Alabama.
But, one has to assume that Miami did their due diligence on his health before investing the 5th pick in the draft on Tua. It’s a great pick. Period. And if his injuries derail things … it’s still a good pick. A great pick.
Miami’s other picks, including 2 in the first round were to this writer, uninspiring. All of them. And they had a bunch.
But, they had one pick late that I really liked and had hoped New England would draft, late. It was Malcolm Perry, the quarterback projected to wide receiver from Navy.
Perry was a tailor-made pick for Bill Belichick with his affinity for Midshipmen. He blew it. If he wanted Perry, he waited too long. A shame. He may be terrific. A missed opportunity? Indeed.
So, to take a tally on Miami’s draft, I’d have to say B+, simply based on the selection of Tua and Perry. If any of the other numerous picks pan out, they could rise to an A in an instant.
But, the quarterback is the most important position on the field. They drafted a terrific one. Once again, New England didn’t.
New York Jets 2020 offseason
The New York Jets are about as bad a drafting team as the New England Patriots have been over the years. The difference, the Patriots had the ultimate safety valve in Tom Brady. The Jets … didn’t. Now, neither does.
The Jets under Coach Adam Gase are trying yet another retooling. So how did they do in the 2020 NFL draft? Well, to start out, they hit the ball out-of-the-park.
An article a couple of months ago had centered on Mehki Becton, the offensive left tackle from Memphis as a great choice for New England in the first round. That was before the “exit, stage left” of Tom Brady to Tampa Bay. After Brady’s exit, I thought a quarterback was the top priority.
But if the Patriots had somehow manipulated the draft to get Becton, I’d still have been happy. I’ve speculated before that offensive left tackle is the second most critical position on any NFL team. After quarterback. It still is. The Jets hit a home run in selecting Becton.
Becton is huge. Not quite Trent Brown huge, but huge. Huge and athletic … is good. Becton is both. Great pick by our great “friends” to the South.
The Jets second-round pick was equally on-target, Denzel Mims from Baylor. The Jets again did just alright.
I’ll now skip to a 4th round pick, La’Mical Perine a running back from Florida whom the Jets picked in the 4th round. Another solid pick. Perine was standout in the Senior Bowl. He’s not a speedster, and he only averaged 5.1 yards oper carry. I’d say that’s OK.
And the last pick I’ll highlight is quarterback James Morgan from Florida International University. Morgan was cited as a possible pick by New England in the media before the draft. The Jets already have Sam Darnold as their top QB. But they still made a move to bolster that critical position. New England again … didn’t.
So there we have the main components of the Jets draft. Becton, Mims, Perine, and Morgan. Based on those 4 picks alone, I just have to give the Jets a B+.
Final Analysis
So there we have it. A brief overview of the 2020 AFC East and how each divisional rival stacks up against the New England Patriots offseason. Of course, drafts on paper are worth the paper they are printed on.
We all know that the success of any offseason can only be determined after about 3 years of performance or non-performance in the big-time, the NFL.
But, it has long been my opinion that in the draft, you do what you need to do to seek to improve your team in areas of NEED. Need is the key. If you draft a running back in the third round and you are relatively sound at that position and he almost never plays is that a sound draft pick? I’d say NO.
So, in evaluating the AFC offseasons among the 4 AFC contenders, my ratings are as follows: Buffalo Bills: A, Miami Dolphins: B+, New York Jets: B+, New England Patriots: D+
What these offseason grades will ultimately mean in the coming 2020 season is unknown. But one thing is certain, the ultimate winner, the ultimate safety valve, the ultimate fallback position for the New England Patriots is now playing in Tampa Bay, Tom Brady.
No. 12 made up for a whole host of poor personnel moves in the past for the New England Patriots. This season, in 2020, we will see just how much of a deficiency he made up for all those years. I think it was huge. It will be very interesting. Very interesting, indeed.