The Patriots are heading across the pond for an international matchup with the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London on Sunday.
Although the regular season is ongoing, there are also eyes on the future as New England continues to rebuild in the Drake Maye era. Maye gave Pats fans something to look forward to the rest of the year in his first career start last week. Below, we'll address some in-season and offseason topics for the Patriots. Plus, the NFL trade deadline is in early November, so that's on the docket, too.
Let's empty the Patriots Unfiltered mailbag heading into Week 7:
Q: Who should the Patriots draft in the first round? Offensive tackle or pay an offensive tackle in free agency? - @LeafChinobii
My opinion on how the Patriots should approach the offseason hasn't changed much. Although the defensive needs are creeping up my list, I'm still leaning toward this being a competition between tackles Will Campbell (LSU) and Kelvin Banks Jr. (Texas). In free agency, my guess is that Ronnie Stanley will be franchised or extended by the Ravens, and Garett Bolles is getting up there in age (33 next May). Cam Robinson is an interesting name to monitor if Jacksonville decides to move on.
As I said, the needs at corner and pass-rusher are creeping up my list. The Pats defense is 29th in DVOA and 26th in team pressure rate. We can't lose sight of that for the shiny new toys on offense. There are some great defensive prospects projected in the top 10: WR/CB Travis Hunter (Colorado), DL Mason Graham (Michigan), CB Will Johnson (Michigan), and EDGE James Pearce Jr. (Tennessee) are some names to watch.
Q: Kurt Warner was really critical of the Patriots offense on tape, especially spacing. Sounded like he liked what he saw from Maye and not much else. Are you seeing those issues from the offense? - @ChefdDds89
We've been discussing the things that Warner brought up on Patriots.com radio. Schematically, the Patriots offense has used spread concepts with mostly isolation routes. They rank third-highest in spread formation usage (26.6%), and their route concepts aren't overly exotic. For example, you don't see bunches/stacks or multi-layered routes to put defenders in conflict. Instead, it's receivers on islands trying to beat their man.
As Warner said, it's a tough way to live without elite playmakers. But, to be fair to AVP, the more exotic concepts take longer to develop. Those route concepts force coverage defenders to declare so the QB knows where to go with the ball. A flood concept, for example, will have three levels: a flat (short), corner (intermediate), and vertical (deep). Behind a shaky line, it's challenging for those routes to have the time to develop downfield.
The offenses that succeed playing with simpler concepts are the Bengals and Eagles. Those teams have elite receivers and quarterbacks, so they make it work. We'll see if the line will allow New England to be more exotic moving forward or if the quarterback (Maye) elevates the offense.
Q: The defense has been a bit of a letdown this far. How much of their issues are truly injury-related with guys filling roles, and how much is scheme/coaching? - Drew T
Although it's a cop-out answer, it's all the above. The Patriots losing Christian Barmore (blood clots), Ja'Whaun Bentley (shoulder), and Jabrill Peppers (off-field) has been challenging to overcome. It's tough to include Matthew Judon on that list because the Patriots decided to trade him, but without him and Barmore, the Pats are 26th in team pressure rate (29.9%). Bentley and Peppers's physicality in the run game is also sorely missed. When you have a rebuilding roster, the drop-off behind your entrenched starters can be steep.
That said, the two stats that stand out to me about the coaching are the Patriots re-emphasizing base defense and the lack of scheme-created pressure. First, the Pats rank fourth in base personnel usage (37.5%) but are 30th in yards per play allowed in base defense (6.3 yards). Second, the Pats rank 26th in unblocked pressure rate (5.5%) after leading the NFL in scheming up free runners during the 2023 season (9.8%).
In conclusion, you can say it's the personnel and inconsistent fundamentals that are sinking the Patriots defense – that would be a fair assessment. However, the scheming and personnel usage also had a hand in ranking 29th in DVOA over six weeks.
Q: With the decision to go with Maye behind them, does that motivate Wolf at the trade deadline to try to accelerate the rebuilding process? - Mark R
This is something I've been thinking about as well. The Patriots need to be in the talent acquisition business. The pro tanking crowd might view adding at the deadline as bad business, but Eliot Wolf should be on the phone if a starting left tackle or WR1 becomes available at the deadline. It's less about the short-term gain and more about the long-term gain of having that player rostered for 2025 and beyond.
Let's say that the Bengals decide to trade Tee Higgins with their record currently at 2-4, so they get something in return for a pending free agent. The Patriots should absolutely be bidding for Higgins. The same goes for a left tackle. The Patriots should be about stacking talent rather than passing on talent to protect a top-five pick. With several holes on the roster, adding a player at the deadline won't change much. It's just crossing a need off the list by adding another building block.
Q: Do you know how the four offensive tackles drafted between Polk and Wallace on day two are doing for their teams? Just playing the "what if" game. - Joe M
One of the main debates on Patriots Twitter is whether the front office could've done more to upgrade the offensive line this past offseason. Coach Mayo said the team felt Mike Onwenu was the best free-agent offensive lineman, which is fair. The other free-agent tackle options were Jonah Williams (IR), Tyron Smith, and Jermaine Eluemunor, a career guard/right tackle. The one low-risk, high-reward flier I would've taken was on former Jets first-rounder Mekhi Becton, who is now playing right guard in Philly. It wasn't a great tackle class, but the Patriots should've thrown more darts, like signing Okorafor and Becton, for example.
The other second guess is how the Patriots approached the draft. After taking Maye, New England went wide receiver (Polk) before tackle, taking Ceadan Wallace 68th overall. To play the what-if game, five rookie tackles went between No. 37 (Polk) and No. 68 (Wallace), and there was one trade-up candidate: Tyler Guyton (No. 29), Patrick Paul (No. 55), Blake Fisher (No. 59) Roger Rosengarten (No. 62), Kingsley Suamataia (No. 63), and Brandon Coleman (No. 67).
Paul and Fisher have yet to start a game, so the jury is still out on them, but Guyton, Rosengarten, Suamataia, and Coleman have played meaningful snaps. Here are their current PFF grades: Rosengarten (61.1), Coleman (58.9), Guyton (49.7), and Suamataia (41.2). Those grades aren't great, while Coleman is the only day-two pick starting at left tackle.
I would've considered trading up from No. 68 to get ahead of the tackle run. But maybe they had Wallace higher on their board. We'll need to wait two to three years before determining if Wallace was a better draft pick than the names above. For now, it's too soon to call.
Q: With the release of Nick Leverett (and very little depth at the center position), are we close to seeing a Cole Strange return soon? - Jeff S
Last week, Coach Mayo offered a positive update on Strange's status. The former first-rounder is working his way back from a severe knee injury that ended his 2023 season.
"He's starting to look like an NFL player. He's getting better. We'll see what happens as we go forward," Mayo said of Strange's progress. Mayo also added that the team is "100 percent" considering Strange an option at center.
It's worth noting that Strange doesn't have much experience at center. He took some reps there for teams at the Senior Bowl, so teams have viewed him as a center option for a while. But he hasn't done that much so far with the Patriots. Strange's best path to get on the field might be at center due to a logjam at guard, but I'm not ruling out him pushing Jordan for snaps at left guard. We'll see once Strange gets on the practice field.
Q: How worried are you about Ja'Lynn Polk? Was he getting open against Houston? Do you think the drop issues are more of a mental hurdle or something more concerning? - Timmer
I'm not super worried about Polk yet because he's making the easy stuff look hard and the hard stuff look easy. He has struggled with drops and didn't get his feet in bounds vs. Miami. However, he's getting open. Right now, it seems more mental than physical. I'd be more worried if he wasn't separating or if the drops were caused by contact rather than focus issues. For example, on Maye's first interception, Polk wins on a go route, but the ball doesn't come his way. Polk is creating opportunities for himself. Now, he just needs to finish plays.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
