The way the Patriots have approached the off-season, it seems clear they feel they made their biggest offensive acquisition back in January in the form of new play-caller Bill O'Brien.
After all the hemming and hawing about needing to upgrade at receiver -- potentially even by trading for DeAndre Hopkins or Jerry Jeudy -- New England simply swapped out Jakobi Meyers for JuJu Smith-Schuster and signed pass-catching tight end Mike Gesicki at a discount.
Then, rather than spending heavily on a new tackle and dumping Trent Brown in the process, the Patriots kept Brown in place and signed two cheap veteran tackles (Calvin Anderson and Riley Reiff) who both look almost assured to make the roster in 2023. (Let's also not forget the addition of new offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, who should almost certainly be an upgrade over Matt Patricia.)
Despite the lack of major moves, it certainly seems the Patriots have set the floor for their offensive performance in 2023 under O'Brien, according to former Pro Bowl quarterback Matt Hasselbeck.
“For me, the only non-negotiables are, who’s my play-caller, and who’s my offensive line?” Hasselbeck told the Boston Herald's Karen Guregian over the weekend. “You can’t be terrible at those two spots and expect to be good. If you take care of those two things, everything else you can scheme around."
“Would it be great to have an All-Pro receiver? Sure. I don’t think I ever had that. But we had coaches that had a system that we could figure out ways to get guys open. We had a system that we could marry what we were good at in the running game, to the passing game. We had a system where we could line up in whatever formations, and find the one matchup that worked for us. So if you have a scheme that’s sound, and can protect the quarterback…then you have a chance.”
Though it'd be rash to be sure, given their interest in Zay Flowers and the mutual fit between them, Hasselbeck's philosophy might be a reason the team would aim for a tackle with their first-round pick rather than shooting for receiver or another position.
Simply having O'Brien, who should be able to scheme receivers open better than his predecessor, and an offensive line that can protect Mac Jones should make the offense better on its own. Of course, while Brown, Anderson and Reiff are all experienced players, none of them would preclude the team from drafting a tackle that could start as a rookie -- nor should it.
Additionally, there are plenty of cornerbacks and receivers (despite the rap on this class) that could make sense for the Patriots later on and develop behind the options they already have at those positions.
The Patriots do need to explore their ceiling as an offense, which should mean being open to explosive receivers like Flowers, Josh Downs, Jalin Hyatt or Tyler Scott. But this year is perhaps mostly about re-establishing the offense's level, to use a Belichickian phrase.
They've already taken care of the first part of that equation by grabbing O'Brien. The second part: making sure your tackle position is squared away with the interior offensive line looking largely set.
Darnell Wright, come on down.
