Despite the nor’easter barreling down on Boston, the NFL offseason is indeed about to heat up. At least that’s true in some cities.
Heck, plenty of teams have actually gotten a head start on the new football year with trades that will become official this week, while other teams prepare to dive headfirst into the free agent market.
In New England though, well, the Patriots feel like they are spinning their tires and standing pat after an early phase of the offseason that included filling admittedly a key but self-created massive need at offensive coordinator with the hiring of Bill O’Brien.
Is Robert Kraft’s team poised to aggressively pursue roster talent and turnover in an attempt to return to the Patriots patriarch’s mandate of New England being a contender every season?
Is Bill Belichick, still the top hired dog on the Foxborough organizational depth chart, properly motivated and driven for the kind of offseason such a grand goal may require for a team that’s not won a playoff game in four seasons and has missed the postseason with a losing record in two of the last three years?
The first step for any NFL team to prove its mettle and relative status is to measure up against its division competition. And the Patriots are already struggling in that area this oh-so-important offseason.
We all know that Josh Allen and the Bills are clearly the team to beat in the AFC East, having taken hold of the division’s top spot over the last four years thanks to their true franchise QB’s rocket right arm and fleet feet.
The Dolphins slid into the perceived second-fiddle spot thanks to the arrival of new coach Mike McDaniel and transformational playmaker Tyreek Hill last season, only adding to that perceived potential with the recent reported trade for star cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
Oh, and even the lowly Jets are suddenly the would-be darlings of the division thanks to their possible acquisition future Hall of Fame QB Aaron Rodgers, whose arrival in New York would elevate Gang Green to Super Bowl-contender status for, as Elsa and Anna might sing it, the first time in forever.
The AFC East buzz is building from Buffalo to Miami and even through New York.
And yet New England, the dominant division team for more than two decades, feels a bit forgotten at this point in mid-March time.
Former Steelers Super Bowl-winning defensive back and current CBS analyst Bryant McFadden put the Patriots’ current lot in life, the New England perception in crystal clear social media form with one single tweet.
“Ramsey might go to the Dolphins, and Rodgers might go to the Jets. If that happens, the window the Bill's had in the AFC East will be closed,” McFadden wrote.
Clearly the point of the Twitter analysis was to target Buffalo, a would-be-great franchise that’s not yet reached never mind won a Super Bowl under Allen’s guidance. That closing window description feels as accurate as it is cliché.
But the tweet had an even more wide reaching, critical tone when looked at from a New England perspective. The Patriots aren’t even in the tweet because they are really not even in the conversation of the AFC East at this point.
A once-great Kraft and Belichick guided double-dynasty that’s mired in mediocrity of both record and roster talent now is seemingly not part of the discussion as the crazy NFL offseason sets to ramp up.
New England isn’t in the dialogue in what is becoming a more loaded, talented division by the day.
The Patriots aren’t in the class of any of the supposedly elite AFC contenders and therefore not relevant to any championship conversations, a chat that once upon a time began in Foxborough.
New England isn’t even in the hope-filled world of the worst teams in football looking to make massive changes this offseason with elite trades atop the draft or abundant amounts of salary cap money to spend.
There is hope and excitement in places like Chicago and Carolina, maybe even in Houston.
An also ran in the most recent NFL regular season, New England suddenly feels like an also-ran in the offseason as well.
The Patriots are not a team without talent. Not an organization without ability.
But neither are they in the competitive conversation even inside their own division.
As one tweet from one ex-NFL player wannabe media type showed, sadly New England is almost a forgotten team right now.
How far the mighty have fallen.
