The Patriots scratched out a 15-10 win over the Jets in Week 3, but they've been largely disappointing outside of that. New England has been outscored 72-3 in the last two weeks and 131-55 overall through five games.
Head coach Bill Belichick is on the hot seat after a 1-4 start but could the Patriots stick with him in an attempt to start fresh with a top quarterback next season? Danny Parkins and Andrew Fillipponi discussed just that on the Audacy original podcast "1st & Pod" this week.
"He saw Mahomes win an MVP in Year 2. He saw Herbert go 31 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a rookie. He saw Joe Burrow be great basically immediately. He saw Lamar be great basically immediately," Parkins said (1:04:40 in player above). "Is it possible that he orchestrates it to get a top-two pick to get one of these quarterbacks and says 'That's my path to greatness' more so than leaving here and teaming up with another organization?"
The Patriots have even more of an uphill battle after recent injuries on both sides of the ball.
While reports are swirling that Belichick may be on the way out, there may be a longer-term vision for one of the greatest coaches of all time.
"I'm just saying Devil's advocate, conspiracy theory. They are playing non-competitive football. They're in a very tough division. If you score 10 a game, you're going to lose them all," Parkins continued. "I think it's possible that they're going to have the first, second, or third pick in this draft and I wonder if for Belichick that's his path, and maybe they start losing by design and they become sellers in a couple of weeks."
Of course, if the Patriots do bottom out, it may be more likely than not that this is the last season for Belichick in New England.
"I don't think he's going to get the opportunity to mold that quarterback there. I think that he's out if that's what happens," Fillipponi said. "Unless he's in cahoots with the owner and they have a handshake deal and he's like 'Look, we're not any good. I was wrong about Mac Jones, I apologize for that. Just let me tank this season out and start over." And his owner is like 'OK, that's fine, Bill. This is your mulligan. You get another crack at it.'"
If anyone deserves a mulligan it's the man that coached the Patriots to eight Super Bowl titles.
"Unless that happened, I don't see him – because of everything you said about the other quarterbacks – losing games on purpose. I think he still wants to try to get to nine or 10 wins and make the playoffs," Fillipponi continued, acknowledging the unlikelihood of that.
"I don't think he's waving the white flag on things unless he has a handshake deal that it's in his best interest to do so because he's going to get an opportunity to work with a young quarterback there."
