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Are the Patriots closer to competing in 2025 than we think?
"The Quick Snap" hosts Brian Hoyer and David Andrews believe the Patriots could be in the playoff hunt next year.
There’s no escaping reality at this point: the 3-10 Patriots aren’t playing for anything other than pride (and draft position) for the last five games of 2024.
What’s more, fans have grown increasingly wary of head coach Jerod Mayo and his staff, as well as Eliot Wolf’s ability to revamp the roster even with $117 million in effective cap space available for 2025 and a projected top-five in next year’s draft.
But Brian Hoyer and David Andrews of “The Quick Snap” podcast think there are more than a few reasons to have hope for a big turnaround next season.
The biggest point of optimism: Drake Maye, who continues to impress and show franchise-QB traits as a rookie.
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“With Drake, the thing I love about him is I see intentional improvement each week,” Hoyer said on “The Quick Snap’s” latest episode. “He’s doing a better job of stepping up in the pocket. On his 40-yard run, he took a deep drop. He felt the edge rush. He stepped up. He recognized it was man coverage. No one accounted for him. He took off for 41 yards.
“I think he’s got the right head on his shoulders. I think they’ve surrounded him with some great people … I know when you’re losing a lot of games, the sky is falling. But when I look at it analytically, I don’t think the Patriots are that far off.”
Hoyer even referenced the Colts themselves, who sit at 6-7 despite getting generally sub-standard QB play from Anthony Richardson and Joe Flacco this season because of their performances in close games — last Sunday included. In fact, the Colts currently sit second in the AFC South and are the conference’s eighth seed with an outside chance to sneak into the playoffs.
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Had the Patriots squeezed out wins against the Colts, Titans, and Dolphins this year — games they lost by a combined nine points — they could’ve been “in the hunt” themselves.
Unfortunately, they’re not, Hoyer and Andrews acknowledged, which puts the onus on deciding who will help get the Patriots back into contention next year.
“What can we do in these last four weeks to continue to improve and evaluate guys that we think will be a core part of this team moving forward?” Hoyer posed. “That doesn’t mean they make the team next year, but at least they’re going to be here. In the off season, um, working towards a goal, all of those things. … I think there’s a lot of guys that are no-brainers: obviously Drake, [Christian] Gonzalez, [Kyle] Dugger, Hunter Henry, there’s a lot of ’em. Rhamondre, Mike Onwenu.
“But what are the ones that are maybe on that fringe that can take the next four weeks and use it to their advantage to really establish themselves as guys who can be part of the turnaround next year?”
With tons of cap space available and some highly drafted talent about to enter the fray, 2025 could see a markedly different Patriots roster than this year’s. We’ve already seen this regime move on from some of Bill Belichick’s failed experiments, like Tyquan Thornton, and some of their own picks from 2024 (like receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker) might not be guaranteed spots either.
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So while these last five games won’t help the Patriots’ playoff-less immediate future, they’ll still provide valuable experience for a young core still learning how to win in the NFL.
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