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Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitts talks about the one big thing in New England’s offseason, the first time since 2000 without Bill Belichick at the helm, and why Jerod Mayo will need extreme patience to take over the team. Let’s consider whether this is the case.
video transcript
Jason Fitts: The Super Bowl is in the rearview mirror. That means it’s time to look at the big questions facing the New England Patriots this offseason. In the words of Guns N’ Roses, the answer is a little patience. I can’t whistle. Otherwise it would. But the point I’m trying to make here is that the Patriots are not at the point where they can be a championship contender. I don’t think they’re on the verge of being where they were.
They have holes all over the roster, and with Jerrod Mayo as head coach, they need to figure out what their new identity is, no longer shaped by Bill Belichick. Now you can joke that Mayo is a carbon copy of Bill Belichick. But he’s his own man and he’s going to have to step into this role and assert his individuality on this team. On top of that, the deck will need to be reshuffled in terms of the talent they have.
That’s why the Patriots have an interesting decision to make, especially with the No. 3 pick. I would argue that a new coach would never want to go into a system where they try to replace Bill Belichick as the starting quarterback with Mac Jones this season. It feels like a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. So it’s easy to see the Patriots sitting at No. 3 and taking the third-best QB, but that’s because they trust their assessment enough to take that third-best QB. Only if you believe he is a great player.
Because realistically, when you start thinking about how many needs the Patriots have on their roster, the Patriots will be one of the first teams we look at and say, “We’re going to make a trade for this year’s draft.” This is because it is very logical to consider. Get down and get as much as you can. Because I don’t believe this rebuild will be a one-season thing.
This is a long-term process to establish a better return on talent as a team. And figuring out how to fight is a long-term process. Even if you were Superman, I don’t know if you would be able to win that many football games or if you would draft someone to New England right now. So maybe for the Patriots, it makes sense.
The only big thing they have to ask themselves is how patient they can be in Chapter 1 without Tom Brady, but also without Bill Belichick. If the answer to that is widespread patience, I think the Patriots are the perfect candidate to trade down. If the answer is that they have no intention of doing that and want to win right away, it will be interesting to see how aggressive New England becomes.
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