The Patriots weren’t perfect in their free agent haul, but they sure did get a lot right
The Patriots need too much, and one spending spree was not going to solve everything.
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No, of course the Patriots’ headfirst dive into the free agent pool this week didn’t register a perfect 10 score.
Given the needs on their roster — basically everything but a quarterback, a No. 1 cornerback, and a half-dozen or so dependable contributors — the perfect haul was not realistic, let alone possible.
The Patriots need too much, and one spending spree was not going to solve everything.
But they sure did solve a lot of things. Only the unrealistic and disingenuous among us — those who talk like the Patriots are the lone franchise competing for players, or gripe about them being “the kings of interest” 15 minutes into the free agent tampering period — could have come away disappointed with how the Patriots fared after the free agent festivities commenced Monday.
The Patriots bolstered, if not entirely rebuilt, their defense on the fly, adding tackles Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga, cornerback Carlton Davis, and linebackers Robert Spillane and Harold Landry to a previously capable unit that regressed massively in the transition from Bill Belichick to Jerod Mayo and is probably ripe for rapid repair under new coach Mike Vrabel.
There is so much to like here. Williams, most recently seen being a menace to Chiefs quarterback Patriot Mahomes during the Eagles’ victory in the Super Bowl, was the consensus prize of the free agent class, a rotational lineman with Philadelphia who nonetheless played his best in the biggest moments and is just 25 years old.
Did the Patriots, who made Williams their highest-paid player with a four-year, $104 million deal, overpay. Yup. And thank the spirit of Sugar Bear Hamilton that they did.
The Patriots have been an afterthought at best in the NFL for the past three seasons, and the taxes here aren’t exactly a drawing card, either. Overpaying is the price of doing business for the Patriots at the moment, and if you were among those disappointed when initial word broke that Williams was going to sign with the Panthers, the feeling fell somewhere between catharsis and euphoria when he ended up taking the Patriots’ money instead.
Williams is the name in the headlines, but the Patriots’ other defensive signings do not belong in the small type, either. Davis joins Christian Gonzalez to give the Patriots one of the best cornerback tandems in the league. Spillane has 306 tackles over the last two seasons and plays with a relentlessness that will make him an instant fan favorite. Landry is smart and tough and familiar with Vrabel, someone who clearly is going to be a culture-setter here. These guys aren’t superstars, but they are dependable, established players who raise the talent floor on this roster.
The influx was, let’s say, more modest on offense. Tight end Austin Hooper, a reliable option for Drake Maye in his rookie season, stuck around, and that’s a good thing, while receiver Mack Hollins, backup quarterback Josh Dobbs, and 34-year-old right tackle Morgan Moses signed on.
Moses arrives as, oh, probably the Patriots’ second-best lineman behind Mike Onwenu, which tells you the ongoing state of affairs (and need for further repairs) there. Hollins is a savvy pickup, a special teams flying ace who turned into a reliable receiver for Josh Allen last season (he had 73 yards and a touchdown in the AFC title game loss to the Chiefs) when bigger-name receivers went silent.
So much more must be done to give Maye the help he deserves in his second season, and some of the early frustration on Monday occurred when it was clear the Patriots would miss out on receiver targets such as Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin, who made the truly disgusting decision to … uh, remain loyal to the team that drafted him eight years ago. So despicable of him, I tell you.
The Patriots’ two biggest needs remain: a de facto No. 1 receiver, and a left tackle who doesn’t resemble a broken turnstile at your least-favorite T stop. Count me among those who would love to see the Patriots sign Cooper Kupp, who was released by the Rams Wednesday. He’s going to be a regular on the injury report for the rest of his career, and he fell off steeply after Week 12 last year, but he’s a gamble the Patriots should take. His preciseness and professionalism would make Maye’s life so much easier.
If it’s not Kupp? I like the idea of trading for Brandon Aiyuk, who is rehabbing a torn ACL and part of a declining 49ers team that is making the grievous mistake of gutting its roster in order to pay Brock Purdy. Aiyuk is an asset worth waiting for. Stefon Diggs? Hard pass. He is not a player who is going to handle his decline phase well, given how much he complained while playing with Allen. Amari Cooper? I could talk myself into that, but he is one of those Bills pass-catchers that willed himself invisible in the playoffs.
Free agency wasn’t perfect for the Patriots, but it did go about as well as any rational fan could expect, and perhaps even a little beyond that. And now they must get something else even more right: This is a crucial draft coming up next month, and it’s one that doesn’t appear initially to have instant, obvious solutions to their biggest needs.
The best tackle, LSU’s Will Campbell, has the arms of a guard. The best receiver, Colorado’s Travis Hunter, might be better suited at cornerback, and the supposed second-best receiver, Tetairoa McMillan of Arizona, sounds like a slight evolution of N’Keal Harry.
We said it then, and we’ll say it now: By winning their last game, and dropping from the first to the fourth pick, the Patriots sure did blow it.
Since then, from the hiring of Vrabel through their dive into free agency, the Patriots have gotten back to getting things right. It’s been a long time coming, and there’s a long way to go, but this was the best week the Patriots have had since the mirage of last season’s opening win over the Bengals.
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