New England Patriots should lose out, whether we like it or not

The New England Patriots have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention due to their loss to the Miami Dolphins.

The New England Patriots will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2008. It’s a sad reality, but one we at least saw coming with how much they have struggled this season. They can now play for two things: pride and draft position. The players obviously want to win these last two games, but it would benefit the team in the long run to do just the opposite.

This is a topic that is sure to divide the fanbase.

Traditional fans may want the Patriots to perform as well as they can to close out the year, while others will be heavily in favor of them finishing 6-10 and getting the highest pick possible.

It does this team no good to finish with seven or eight wins and pick in the middle of the first round when there is a real opportunity to draft a franchise quarterback in 2021. Losing out would give New England a chance to finish with a higher pick, perhaps in the top 10, and increase their odds of being able to select Zach Wilson out of BYU or Trey Lance out of North Dakota State.

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If you’re not a fan of either of them then I guess it doesn’t really matter to you, but who knows how the organization looks at those guys? They might end up kicking themselves if they miss out on drafting one of them.

The New England Patriots have one of the worst rosters in the entire NFL this year. It’s impressive enough that they’ve managed to win six games with this heap of garbage. If Bill Belichick was trying to prove that he can avoid a top five draft pick with a team this bad on paper, he has already achieved that.

Let’s be real, whether they’re trying or not the Patriots won’t beat the Buffalo Bills next week. It really comes down to the matchup with the New York Jets at the end of the season.

The Jets just hilariously won a game against the Los Angeles Rams, potentially losing the chance to draft Trevor Lawrence in the process, and the Patriots nearly lost to them already. As weird as it would feel, it would be best for the Patriots to drop that game.

This season was rough, but the New England Patriots aren’t as far away from returning to playoff contention as they seem. They had a few games that could have gone either way, and if they come back with a stronger team next year they could be right back in the thick of it.