Patriots, Bill Belichick continue to fiddle while other teams improve

The New England Patriots started the free agency period with a non-free agency-related trade of uber-unproductive tight end Jonnu Smith. Good on you Patriots.

Unfortunately, they have basically done nothing of note since other than lose their best wide receiver, free agent Jakobi Meyers to Josh McDaniels and the Las Vegas Raiders. Brilliant.

It’s early to start commiserating on the Patriots’ lousy offseason, but key players who would have fit into their team nicely have already come off the board. One was starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey who went to the Denver Broncos. Sean Payton knows what he’s doing.

The New England Patriots need a starting tackle or two, McGlinchey would have fit like a glove. They passed. A few years ago, the team went early and hard and signed top talented cornerback Stephon Gilmore. That’s how it should be done. He helped win a Super Bowl.

So what do the Patriots have to do now to get on track?

New England Patriots need to get moving

The Patriots’ personnel operation has been a joke for years. Letting go of Tom Brady was the epitome of their personnel mismanagement. There seemed to be a ray of hope for this critical offseason when they somehow, against all odds, dumped Jonnu Smith on the Falcons.

Regardless if it was for a bag of footballs and some cap space, it was a nice move. He played terribly and having such a highly paid unproductive player on the team was a bad optic among other ills.

That seemingly boded well for the 2023 off-season, a good first step. Now the team, at least this early on has seemingly slipped back into their malaise of personnel incompetence and is sitting still while the rest of the NFL takes action. So much for high hopes, dashed in a day.

Additionally, allowing their best wide receiver, Meyers to head out when he should have been signed to a team-friendly deal two years ago is a disaster. That was a missed opportunity for certain as with JC Jackson, Trey Flowers, and Malcolm Butler previously.

Meanwhile, the New York Jets, doormats of the AFC East for decades have signed Allen Lazard a Gren Bay wide receiver to a nice contract.

If they also land Packers’ Hall-of-Famer Aaron Rodgers, the New England Patriots will be looking up from the cellar in the AFC East. It’s not a pretty picture.

New England Patriots still have time to make the right moves

There is still time to make a concerted push in free agency. The team signed former Patriots’ Undrafted Free Agent offensive tackle Calvin Anderson who they released in 2019 to a two-year contract. That’s not going to get it done at all. The move is a farce.

The epitome of “concerted” would be to sign offensive left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. to a big contract. It’s the second most important single position on the team and Brown is worth whatever they have to pay.

Having a top offensive line is also absolutely essential, especially if you have an immobile quarterback like Mac Jones.

If they trade for Lamar Jackson (suggested strongly here), then maybe a somewhat less of aggressive approach at tackle in free agency (not in the draft though) might make some sense. He’s the epitome of mobile. Otherwise, it’s completely foolhardy.

This space gives kudos to the team for the Smith trade. It was excellent business. But here it’s called as it’s seen, and if they fail to take the necessary steps to shore up the offensive tackle position among others, they’ll be taken to task.

We’ll see how things go. Watch for very complimentary articles if they trade for Jackson and/or sign Brown or draft well, for certain. Otherwise, not so much.

But don’t hold your breath. The New England Patriots still can’t seem to get out of its own way when it comes to personnel management.

Realistically, things aren’t likely to change until Bill Belichick beats Don Shula’s wins record and there’s a top general manager on hand. It is what it is, disappointing as usual.