Sports purgatory is usually a term used to describe NBA teams who are around .500 and not really competing for a championship, but also not bad enough to get a really high draft pick.
These teams often look for short-term fixes to stay relevant and live in the middle of the pack, while not really committing to a direction for the future.
It can now be used to describe the Patriots and what they are getting themselves into with the 2020 season.
They are not good enough where a playoff run is realistic, but at the same time not bad enough to get a top-5, or even top-10, draft pick.
This is known as being in no man’s land.
New England is currently 3-5 on the year, which has them as the 11th seed in the AFC and having the No. 13 overall pick if the season ended now.
With seven teams making the playoffs this season, the Patriots are two games behind the Dolphins for the final spot, but have three teams in front of them. In addition, it’s not like they have an easy schedule the rest of the way. According to ESPN, the Patriots have the 12th-hardest schedule in the second half of the year with five of their eight games being against teams with winning records.
So even if things go well in these games and they get the help they need, it’s not like would put them in position to win multiple playoff games and contend for a Super Bowl. Their ceiling is likely the No. 6 or 7 seed and then having a tough wild card matchup.
As we saw last season, what’s the real joy in that?
And then on the flip side, as much as some fans believe it could happen, the Patriots and Bill Belichick are absolutely not going to “tank.”
“Hell no,” Cam Newton said Tuesday when asked about the subject on The Greg Hill Show. “What are we doing? It’s a slogan and it’s an iconic quote that says, ‘You play to win the game.’ It’s simple. Listen, we’re halfway through a season where everything that we want is in front of us.”
And even if the Patriots struggle down the stretch like they did in the the first half, there are a number of teams in worse shape than they are now.
The Patriots are 1.5 games out of getting a top-five selection, but unfortunately for them eight teams are below them in the standings making it extremely difficult to get anywhere near a top-five selectiom.
It’s looking more and more like the team will miss out on the postseason and then get stuck with a pick in the No. 9-15 range. The Patriots haven’t drafted that high since 2008 when they took Jerod Mayo at No. 10 overall, but this year it may not be high enough to land a sure-thing franchise player.
This doesn’t mean the Patriots cannot do anything with whatever draft pick they get. It’s just that picking in the second third of Round 1 makes things a little more complicated.
There are plenty of examples of franchise players being selected in that range, it’s just harder to find them. Also, there’s always the possibility of trading up even higher in the draft, but that comes with a cost — especially if it is related to the quarterback market, which the Patriots likely will be in.
Yes, there is still half a season to play out, but as of now the Patriots are not setting themselves up to easily get what they want — a top pick in the draft or a potential deep playoff run.
