It was well-reported throughout the summer that the Patriots and 49ers engaged in trade talks for second-team All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
It was reported that the Patriots had a contract extension on the table that would have made Aiyuk among the highest paid players at his position. It was also reported that despite the big bag of money, Aiyuk was not interested in being traded to New England, and would prefer destinations such as Pittsburgh or Washington instead.
Once those preferences became clear, it was reported that the Patriots pulled out of the Aiyuk sweepstakes. Vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf confirmed to the media that they were no longer pursuing the 49ers wideout, but said it was in part because of the performance at training camp of their young receiver core.
Whatever the reason, that dream was dead.
And on Friday, the 26-year-old receiver agreed to a four-year, front-loaded extension worth $120 million with San Francisco, ending the summer-long flirtation once and for all.
So what now?
WEEI’s Andy Hart has a plan.
“The Andy Hart Plan,” if you will.
The two-part plan:
1. Trade for Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins
2. Draft a left tackle
“In my plan, you say, ‘OK, they give Ja’Marr Chase his $135 million, put him up somewhere near Justin Jefferson,’ right?” said Hart. “And then Tee Higgins is just - you can’t have both, kind of thing. So he’s expendable, and you try to trade with the Patriots or somebody else there.
“But that’s the cost of doing business. I want one of those. Don’t you want one of those?”
Higgins fits the mold of the exact type of receiver that Hart believes elevates a young quarterback, à la Drake Maye.
“I want one of those they’re-entering-their-fifth-year kind of receivers,” said Hart. “And they are gonna get you 1,800 yards, and I’m gonna pair you up with Drake Maye. And you can make stupid money right now, because he doesn’t make stupid money yet. And the left tackle I’m gonna draft doesn’t make stupid money yet.
“‘The Andy Hart Plan’ - you need to get on board with ‘The Andy Hart Plan.’ It’s a good one.”
Hart made reference to teams around football now embracing the idea of having two elite, highly paid receivers as they pursue a Super Bowl. The combos Hart brought up were A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith in Philadelphia, Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle in Miami, and Deebo Samuel and Aiyuk in San Francisco.
An outlier in recent years is Kansas City, who had Hill and All-World tight end Travis Kelce as their one-two punch, but opted to trade Hill to Miami instead of giving him the big money deal he was seeking. They were able to do this, Hart said, because the Chiefs have Patrick Mahomes, “the Brady-like Band-Aid - you can do whatever you want.”
Hart believes Cincinnati may view their quarterback Joe Burrow in that Mahomes-Brady vein, allowing them to move on from Higgins and just ride Chase as their number one guy.
WEEI’s Christian Arcand, Hart’s co-host on the WEEI Afternoon Show, believes adding a player like Higgins to the Patriots could help elevate some of their young receiver talent to a level where New England may be in that two-elite-wideout conversation.
“Rising tides kind of lifts all boats,” said Arcand. “If you have that number one receiver, then all of the sudden that’s a lot less attention being paid to [DeMario] Douglas or to Ja’Lynn Polk, and they emerge and become that.
“Tee Higgins, I don’t think, out of college was expected to be this high-end guy. Him and Ja’Marr Chase together - all of the sudden, now he’s talked about in that way.”
Hart co-signed with Arcand.
“If you get the number one receiver, we’re gonna look at - let’s just use a name, Ja’Lynn Polk differently,” said Hart. “Ja’Lynn Polk will become your Tee Higgins, where everybody’s like, ‘I’m not sure he’s a true number one, but he looks really good when he plays with Tee Higgins,’ or whoever the real number one is.”
As Hart continued breaking down “The Andy Hart Plan,” he got to the left tackle position.
Arcand made reference to an article by ESPN’s Ben Solak where he listed an “X-factor” for every NFL team headed into the 2024 season. Solak’s “X-factor” for the Patriots was offensive tackle Vederian Lowe. Solak said that if Lowe can “hold his water” playing left tackle this season, “the path forward for New England is immediately accelerated.”
Arcand said that Lowe being the “X-factor” for the Patriots bummed him out. When he asked Hart if he agreed, Hart dug back into his plan.
“Well - depends which mode I’m in,” said Hart. “Am I in ‘Andy Hart’s Plan’ mode? Because ‘Andy Hart’s Plan' involves losing a lot of games and getting the replacement for Vederian Lowe in the top five picks of next year’s draft.
“The left tackle is the fatal flaw of this football team.”
So “The Andy Hart Plan” works at it’s best if Lowe is bad at left tackle in 2024.
Not exactly something to root for as a fanbase, but Hart is looking towards next spring, where prized left tackles Will Campbell of LSU (6’6, 320) and Kelvin Banks Jr. of Texas (6’4, 324) will be sitting at the top of the draft board waiting to be selected.
But in the meantime, Hart believes the Patriots’ 2024 season hinges on the play of their left tackle, whether that’s Lowe or someone else.
“Left tackle spot is the ‘X-factor’ for the Patriots,” said Hart. “That will decide whether they win zero games, or six.”