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

New England Patriots draft deficiencies

At an early age, I was enthralled with the draft. How will the Patriots do? Whom will they select? It has always been an exciting (and too often disappointing and discouraging exercise) with the Patriots.

It was really difficult early on when the Patriots just didn’t have the resources to pay the bonuses to sign the best draftees. Then, at times they were just plain incompetent in their selections.

Now, for the past 20 years or so, it just seems that on many selections they choose a player just because nobody else rates them as highly as they evidently do. That’s called arrogance.

Why do players that no draft publication, no keen observers and nobody else rates highly (or even at all, hello Tavon Wilson) on their draft boards wind up as second-round or other picks for the New England Patriots?

I think it’s this particular type of their draft incompetence that irks me the most out of all of the other versions. The Patriots have blown draft pick choices that were so obvious even a rank amateur could see it. Like their not drafting Jason Taylor who went on to torment Tom Brady for over a decade with Miami.

The main problem with their 2020 draft was the entire strategy behind it. That’s a pretty strong statement and indictment of their personnel operation. It really wasn’t as simple as saying the Patriots draft picks this season were all duds. No, it really wasn’t that.

In my view, this draft above-all had to be devoted to the offensive side of the football. That side cost them their season in 2019, above all other considerations. And, quarterback had to be at or the very least near the top of the list. They passed.

I’ve written before that even the greatest quarterback of all-time couldn’t get this group to work for him in 2019. Enough said. They just weren’t that good. Take Tom Brady, Julian Edelman, and James White out of that group, and they were a bottom 5 offense. Now that great quarterback has left.

What went wrong in the draft? First, the Patriots drafted defensive players in their first three picks. Two in the second round and one, their first of 3 in the third round.

So, making this clear, the Patriots had 5 premium picks (picks in the first 3 rounds) to rebuild their ineffective offensive skill positions. And, after day one, six more picks to fill in elsewhere. Five players could really have made a difference. They blew it.

They took a Division II safety as their first pick in the second round. Their track record in the second round with defensive backs under Bill Belichick has been abysmal. Then they took defensive ends/outside linebackers with the next two picks.

I’ll say again, all three of these players may turn out to be decent, productive players. Maybe. The problem I have with all of those picks is that they were totally mistargeted. They should have been offensive picks. And especially, offensive skill players.

Their situation at offensive skill players is dismal. Julian Edelman, their best offensive player this season, will be 34 years old. James White, their great receiving back is 28. Outside of those two players, the Patriots’ skill players were terrible in 2019.

The 2020 draft should have been used exclusively in the first 5 picks the Patriots had to rectify (or at least attempt to) these deficiencies at skill positions on offense. They needed a quarterback to replace or at least compete with Jarrett Stidham for the starting position after Brady left. They punted.

They needed at least two wide receivers to bolster that awful position in terms of production in 2019. They didn’t draft any, anywhere. They needed a big back to get them a yard or two in short-yardage situations they couldn’t get in 2019. They totally passed.

And they needed to bolster the tight end situation which was invisible in 2019. Lo and behold they addressed it in the third round with two picks. Unfortunately, I felt that better options were on the board when they were selected and they reached/overdrafted both of them. One by maybe 3 rounds.

All this added up in my view to a failed draft. They blew it. The players they chose maybe be OK, but they failed to make the absolutely critical, major investment in offensive skill positions that were unquestionably necessary. The draft was a strategic failure.