New England Patriots: 3 strategies to become competitive in 2021

New England Patriots: 3 strategies to become competitive in 2021 – No.3: Go big in free agency or go home.

As the above suggestion noted in spots, the Patriots need to be big players in free agency. Really big or they can forget being anything but also-rans in the AFC East again looking up at the Bills and Dolphins in 2021.

Major additions are necessary in free agency and here a few suggestions. The Pats tight end situation is an embarrassment to bad tight end situations. Their output is almost nothing. Defenses don’t even have to cover them never mind game plan for them. The position as a practical matter is non-existent in the New England offense. Another reason why Newton had almost no one to throw to last season.

The best available according to Pro Football Focus is Hunter Henry of the LA Chargers. He’s young at 26 had 60 catches last season. That should be all they have to hear.

New England should put the money on the table, be aggressive in the first hour of free agency, and just “show him the money” and get the guy. It’s time to put the disastrously poor tight end deficiency behind them.

In addition, staying on offense, the New England Patriots don’t have a No. 1 outside receiver. With Edelman’s situation may be in flux, they may not have any receivers except the supporting Jakobi Meyers who had a solid if unspectacular season in 2020 with 59 catches.

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Fortunately, there are several quality receivers available in free agency. New England has to sign one. These include Chris Godwin, (65 catches in 2020); Allen Robinson (102 catches in 2020);  Will Fuller V, (53 catches in 2020); and JuJu Smith-Schuster. (97 receptions in 2020). Robinson or Schuster would be great and would be the team’s No. 1 receiver, but any of the above works.

The Patriots’ latest first-round wide receiver bust is N’Keal Harry. He should be sent maybe to Arizona closer to where he played his college ball where he hopefully will able to get his career on track.

Shifting to the defense, the Patriots need to rework their defensive line and linebacker corps with top talented additions. At least one top player at each position in free agency is essential. A defensive lineman with great size and who would be a great fit is former Jet, Leonard Williams. Williams had 11.5 sacks last season. ‘Nuf said. Go get him.

No one on the Patriots’ d-line has anywhere near that talent level. And interestingly, though it seems he’s been around quite a while, he’s still only 26 years old. Perfect.

And the last of my four top-flight additions in free agency (and yes, they would be costly, that’s why some current highly-paid players have to go), is linebacker/edge. Let’s go edge here and let’s go big as in Trey Hendrickson.

Again like Williams, this is a productive pass rusher with 13.5 sacks in 2020., and he too is only 26 years old in his prime. So those are four suggestions from the free agent pool that would certainly dramatically upgrade the New England Patriots in areas of greatest need after quarterback: tight end; wide receiver; defensive tackle/end; and edge. (Another major need is for a space-eating defensive tackle but that should be a draft issue.)

So there they are, three strategies for the New England Patriots to turn this moribund, boring, lower-echelon team into a far better version in 2021. Yes, to land these free agents the New England Patriots will have to open up their purse strings, let some good players go (e.g. Thuney and maybe Hightower, Gilmore), and go all-in to remake the team into a far better version, hopefully, than the lackluster 2020 one.

Let’s see how they approach things in 2021. If it’s the same old strategy: draft players who aren’t heralded and draft poorly; bottom-feed in free agency and hope to hit a home run (e.g. Beau Allen); settle for a mid-level quarterback rather than go for the grand slam with Watson or Wilson (or with a top candidate in the draft); then 2021 will be similar to last season.

The offseason is here. Teams are built now. Let’s see if this version of the New England Patriots personnel management is up to the challenge. Just don’t bet the farm on it. Their track record on personnel is poor.