New England Patriots 2020 offseason: Team has botched things so far

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Kyle Van Noy #53 (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images) /

New England Patriots’ free agency failures

Previously, I commented on the pre-draft activities of the Patriots personnel department, whoever they may be in providing the team with talent upgrades to enhance their prospects in the 2020 season. This commentary includes the April 2020 draft in that evaluation.

I didn’t think the Patriots did much with their free agency opportunities. They lost a slew of players to free agency. One of them was the greatest quarterback in NFL history. Enough has been said about that. But that miscue alone was enough to give them an F grade in my view.

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Elsewhere, they also lost several key defensive players to free agency like Kyle Van Noy and one versatile backup interior offensive lineman. Now one might argue that the Patriots were limited in free agency by their salary cap situation. True enough.

Reportedly, they can’t even sign their first-round draft pick because of that difficulty. Obviously, that will have to change. But who put them in that bind, anyway? They did it to themselves.

Yet, there are always ways to mitigate that situation through restructuring contracts or more drastic personnel actions like releasing players who count significantly on the cap. We may very well see that in June.

Agreeing to an injury settlement with Mohamed Sanu would save millions on the cap. Dilemma solved. Sanu wrecked his ankle on a meaningless and ill-advised (by the coaching staff) punt return for the Patriots last season.

He needed offseason surgery to correct it. He’s only now getting into rehab. An injury settlement solves the problem and who knows if/when he could return anyway. If he can later on in the season, he could be brought back then maybe.

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