I Know What The Patriots Need To Do

You know that guy you work with telling you his obviously fabricated stories of what he did last weekend? The guy that plays “six lies and a truth” without being asked to play? Enough is said where something is probably true, but you’re guess is as bad as mine as to what.

That’s Bleacher Report, The Score, ESPN, or whoever else sends you push notifications every other hour until free agency starts in a few weeks. One day it’s one report. The next day is an opposite report. The third day is a report with a mixture of the last two reports, and the cycle resets. It’s a bunch of click bait, he said she said about what the cleaning crew overheard from a phone call the GM’s teenage daughter made to her boyfriend about what daddy said the team might do. 

And while I’m more interested than ever before about the top of the draft, I’m getting sick of it. 

Last week alone I went through the gauntlet.

“The Patriots are really high on Drake Maye.”

“The Patriots are likely looking to move back and acquire more picks.”

“The Patriots are now the favorites to land Jayden Daniels.”

I’ve received push notifications of every possible scenario that can play out being the most likely outcome over the span of two weeks. And I trust none of them. So instead, let me tell you what I’d LIKE to happen, instead of pretending to guess what no one knows.

Plan A) Draft Marvin Harrison Jr. 

Picking third in this draft kinda blows, and I’m gonna restrain myself from venting about how the Commanders pick before us due to strength of schedule tiebreak even though we literally played them and lost, hence being a worse team. You can get a QB if you want one, but you get the one that was passed on which may not be your first choice. And if he’s not your first choice, do you pick him anyway cause you need a QB and QB is the most important position in professional sports? I hope that answer’s no, but there’s pressure around that. 

Instead, pick a guy who’s by all accounts a sure fire hit in MHJ. We’ve seen top five QBs hit at about a 50% clip in the last decade or so. Even if he’s the top guy on your draft board, there’s as good of a chance he’s a franchise QB as not. On the flip side, we’ve seen first round WRs flourish in recent years. These guys are physically ready to compete at this level, and unlike QB where half if not more of your success is based on mental comprehension, receivers can let their physical gifts do the talking. Marvin Harrison would’ve been the number one receiver off the board last year if he was eligible. Take him. 

Plan A Cont.) Sign Kirk Cousins

All signs point to Kirko Chainz leaving Minnesota, and at 35 years old off an Achilles tear, he won’t be commanding the money he’s got the last few years in America’s version of the Great North. And he’ll have something to prove. 

There’re not many teams in positions to win looking for QBs, so his options will be thin. Pittsburgh has the best weapons, but I’ve heard of seven different QBs being linked to them and none of them named Kirk Cousins. Atlanta’s roster is enticing, but do you really want to go to Atlanta? The organization that shoots themselves in the foot whenever they have the chance? Atlanta has also been the most likely destination for a minimum of three or four free agent QBs since the beginning of February. They can’t get them all.

Here's my pitch for New England. The Patriots still have a good defense. The defensive war lord in Belichick is gone, but Mayo knows this defense like the back of his hand, orchestrating it both on and off the field for the last decade plus, so I expect they’ll be a competitive unit again this year.

I already said we’re drafting Marvin Harrison, so there’s your WR1. We have $100 million in cap ($70 or so after we sign Kirk) to help build an offensive line to protect as well as another potential target for Kirk to throw to. And we have a pro bowl caliber RB who just needs an offensive line that knows how to block.

Tell me where this plan is flawed. Sign a proven, very good NFL QB, draft a WR1, sign some OL and other weapons, pair it with Rhamondre and a good defense, and we’re competing as soon as this year. Yes, this year. I’m not talking Super Bowl, but playoffs are in sights. This is the quickest route to relevancy the Patriots have. Do it.

Plan B) Draft Jayden Daniels

This is quickly approaching plan A for me cause this kid’s a stud, but this is the longer term play and not one I see as making us competitors next year.

I don’t claim to be an NFL draft expert. I don’t watch film and breakdown attributes and what makes prospects such good prospects. I just watch football. And from what I watched, Jayden Daniels is better than Drake Maye. 

Jayden had a better situation than Drake, yes. He had better players around him, better coaching, better everything. But he also had better competition. Much better. And he torched that competition, to the tune of Heisman poses at Radio City Music Hall. 

Both are duel threats. Both have cannons for an arm. Maybe it’s the Trubisky thing I can’t get out of my head, but something about drafting a QB from UNC who didn’t have amazing collegiate production but looks like your proto-typical pro QB that high scares me. 

If Drake Maye is left at three, I hope we stick to my plan A. However, if we do go with plan A, Kirk will have been signed by the time the draft happens, so the writing would already be on the wall. So maybe skip to plan C. Is it crazy to say I’d like drafting Maye more if we had Kirk signed? Now I’m talking myself in circles. 

Moral of plan B – if we draft a QB, I hope it’s Jayden Daniels. 

Plan C) Trade Back and Acquire Volume of Talent

I know I’m in the minority here, but the Patriots don’t NEED a QB at 3. They need everything. At least on one side of the ball.

This was a historically pathetic offense this year (the Jets scored more points than us for fuck’s sake). One rookie QB isn’t going to change the trajectory of the team on his own, although I'm aware it’d be a good start. 

We need an entirely new offensive line outside of the center (both tackles are free agents). Hunter Henry is a free agent, so need a TE as well unless we figure out how to unleash Mike Gesicki this year. Our WR1 is a WR3 on 70% of NFL rosters, so nicely put there’s room for improvement there. And we have the worst QB room since the turn of the century.

Not something one 22 year-old is likely to overcome on his own I’d say. 

If we move back to the 8-10 range, we can still secure a top tier player, maybe get another second rounder, and have two firsts for next year. At least. Or even better, do what the Bears did and acquire a proven player. If we go this route we’re looking at a veteran QB signing, which I’m already on board with (see plan A). I’m talking myself into plan C becoming plan A. This way we fix the most amount of holes, in which there are plenty, and can still compete soon if not now.

There’s a million possibilities the Patriots can take, especially being where they are. There appears to be little skepticism of the Bears or Commanders taking a QB, so by all accounts the draft starts with New England. 

Let’s hear your offers, best and final. We’ll be sure to counter. And if someone is desperate enough to bite, we’ll be happy to sign the dotted line.

I’ve never been this excited for the draft, and it’s sad that I’m now the delusional fan that thinks his 4-win team can make a run next year with a couple quick moves in March and April. But as excited as I am, don’t forget free agency comes first. Many questions will be answered in the coming weeks, and draft day plans will likely be scrapped, remade, and scrapped again several times before Roger is getting booed on stage in D Town. 

All this to tell you, don’t listen to what sources are telling you. They know as much as me (nothing). Read them all you want, but don’t attach yourself. Let your mind wonder and dream. For this is the time of endless possibilities.