So many needs. So many holes to fill and about a month to go before any of them can be formally addressed at the outset of NFL Free Agency in March.
So we wait and we ponder.
Back on New Year’s Eve I offered: "Hackett: A blueprint on how to fix the Patriots." This column detailed a strategic look at how to best fill the Patriots positions of most need either via trade, free agency or the upcoming NFL Draft. In that piece from seven weeks ago I made the case to address the quarterback position with a couple of old friends. One by trade for Jimmy Garoppolo and the other by making an efficient free agency acquisition of Jacoby Brissett to hedge this bet on Jimmy G’s health and familiarity with the system.
It’s doable and likely a pair of acquisitions that can be fairly renegotiated to maximize that $60 million or so of available cap space. After all, the entire rationale for those moves is based on the idea that with so many holes to fill, that this would be an easy and instant solution to the Patriots very gaping quarterback problem. One problem solved, while still leaving the Pats with the financial resources and time to do more to complete the construction of its very needy roster. It just makes sense.
Then about six weeks went by.
Here’s what I’ve been dwelling on: timing, competition and location. In real estate you’ve heard the tired phrase many times before, ‘location, location, location.’ New England was once a destination for the most highly skilled transplants in the football workforce to come plant their flags. Permanent residence or temporary, in NFL terms, New England was an ocean front destination. Now it’s a bit of a fixer upper in a once highly desirable neighborhood that’s now amidst an economic slowdown. Property values are down.
Location is no longer the absolute plus for acquiring free agents that we have come to know it as over the last several years. That just makes the competition against other teams that much harder. That also puts pressure on the timeline and the timing to get the players they need to fix the many problems they have on this Patriots roster.
So many holes to fill and only so much time and money to do it with. In terms of the free agents, many will likely see brighter horizons and more desirable locations elsewhere. Competition will be fierce and it will be a race. Wide receivers and tight ends will want to know who will be throwing them the ball. Quarterbacks will want to know who they will be throwing to. Given the recent draft history of both wide receivers and tight ends that feels like a tough pitch to make and close.
So what do you do?
Control your destiny. Trade up in the NFL Draft and get the guy you need.
Need a stop gap? If mediocre Marcus Mariota may cost you upwards of $20 million per year all in (Brady made $22 million here in 2019 for reference sake), then I’ve got a familiar solution for you that’ll cost no more the $7-8 million next season and that’s being generous. Yup. The leprechaun you hate to love, Ryan Fitzpatrick.
It worked for Miami and it can work for us. I’ll say it, I think he’s better now than he used to be. I said it on-air during the Fantasy Football Hour last season and my co-host Pete Davidson, a lifelong Jets fan didn’t laugh me off the air. He kinda-sorta agreed with stipulations and I totally understand why. I’m not Pollyanna. I know it will be ugly with Fitzpatrick at times, but will it be as ugly as it was on the Jets? Or the Bucs? I’m not so sure. I think the worst is behind him and I can certainly tolerate him for one season; provided the Pats trade up and get one of the top four guys in this draft. You know the names.
I want Zach Wilson personally but that could be a tough putt with our bitter enemies, the New York Jets sitting in the number two slot with a likely eye on another quarterback. However, Justin Fields or Trey Lance would certainly fit the suit nicely as well.
Do the Pats have the assets to deal and actually trade up? Yes they do and yes they can. Here’s the Patriots current 2021 draft capital:
· Round 1, Pick 15 (15th overall)
· Round 2, Pick 14 (46th overall)
· Round 4, Pick 15 (111th overall)
· Round 5, Pick 14 (142nd overall)
· Round 6, Pick 11 (171st overall via Cowboys)
· Round 6, Pick 13 (173rd overall)
· Round 7, Pick 15 (207th overall)
· Plus compensatory picks that could land within Rounds 3-5 for the 2020 losses of:
- Tom Brady
- Jamie Collins
- Kyle Van Noy
This doesn’t even factor in players they could move like Stephon Gilmore or any future draft capital from 2022 and beyond.
To those whom may ask why even sign Fitzpatrick? Or to those who recently suggested a potential return of Cam Newton to fill that role, I’ll retort with three points.
First Fitzpatrick is better than Newton. Secondly, I think desirable wide receivers or tight ends you may be targeting in free agency would actually rather have passes thrown to them by Fitzpatrick, particularly if they are sold on a highly touted rookie waiting in the wings. Lastly, you may recall that farce of an NFL penalty dropped on the Patriots from the overblown, preposterous second videotaping issue. Though proven to not be connected in any way to the Patriots football operation, the league literally stole a third round pick from them as ‘punishment.’ Bogus as it is, that point leads me to my final point, which is the compensatory third round pick that will come to New England if Newton departs.
Truth be told, the value of that 2022 third round pick is greater than Newton. He’s not coming back.
So there’s the rationale. Come March 15 it’s going to be the Wild Wild-West and too many teams have bigger guns. Control what you can control. Trade up and get the right guy for the future and the bearded gunslinger who perfectly fits the need of the times in the year ahead. He is a leprechaun after all, maybe they’ll get lucky. Then build from there.
