Oh, baby! It’s deal making time. I love this time of year.
It’s finally just one week until NFL free agency starts. Your New England Patriots sit tidily near the top of the heap with over $60 million to invest in this year’s eligible talent pool. There are well-documented needs all over the field and as free agency begins one of the prevailing questions has been, why choose New England? Tuesday morning’s trade to reacquire former Patriots Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Brown, not only fills a giant hole on the offensive line (literally), but perhaps as importantly, fills one with the Patriots offseason sales pitch.
Blind-side? Got you covered. Covered like a newborn baby swaddled into a king size bed comforter kind of way. Trent Brown is supersized if you missed the reference. He’s professional wrestler big.
Of the many holes in the Patriots roster to date as chronicled here -- Breaking down this Patriots team’s strengths, weaknesses -- offensive line wasn’t really one of them. However, this is now a clear position of both strength and depth. More importantly, it’s a clear sign to the offensive free agent talent pool that the Patriots intend to address their offense. That helps the sales pitch for the real positions of need on the fun side of the ball like wide receiver, tight end and of course, quarterback.
I never saw the Patriots offseason sales pitch as direly as many have hollered about for several reasons, even before this move. To those who have whined about the diva wide receivers balking at coming to the Patriots without having a quarterback you are probably right. However, with the need for two wide receivers, at least one tight end, a starting quarterback, a backup quarterback, potentially a third down back, an edge rusher, a run stuffing lineman, a run stuffing linebacker, a playmaking linebacker and maybe a little more depth at corner for the future; were you really expecting an alpha wide receiver like Chris Godwin or Allen Robinson to come to town? Not me.
As the venerable Lou Gorman once said, “Fill holes, fill holes, fill holes.”
The Pats wide receiver core is the absolute worst it’s ever been in my lifetime and, yes, I remember 2006. Hell I remember 1976. It’s also the worst in the NFL by a mile. Adding two B-minus, B-plus level receivers will do just fine. So let’s look at a couple. Two guys I like, Curtis Samuel of Carolina and Marvin Jones of Detroit. These two additions would give the Patriots a massive infusion of talent, versatility, experience and deep speed. Best yet, each can be had with plenty of financial resources to spare and earmark for the many positions of need listed above.
Now back to that sales pitch ...
Jones was most recently playing for Detroit. Before that, Cincinnati. He knows what a losing organization looks like. Despite the Patriots one 7-9 losing season in 2020, New England is not a losing organization. It’s a winner like no other. A guy like Jones shouldn’t be hard to convince. You probably just need to give him a tour and a decent offer.
Same for Samuel coming from Carolina. He also knows all too well what being missed on open pass routes from Cam Newton looks like and could very likely marvel at Belichick’s ability to coach that 2020 team up to a 7-9 record. Samuel has crazy talent and the thought of him paired with Josh McDaniels is tantalizing. It’s also realistic. Samuel has big upside but has never been higher than third on his team’s depth chart. Anyone hear the word value?
Speaking of value, let’s get to the Patriots value proposition. This is their sales pitch.
Just one season removed from 20 years of unparalleled success. Stable, powerful and local ownership that has been behind that two decades of championship level excellence. Stable football organization that has had the same man leading it to the tune of six Super Bowl Championships and nine appearances during that time. Postseason participants in 18 of those same 20 years. That man is also pretty much unanimously recognized as the best to ever do it.
Now think of where guys like Jones, Samuel, Kyle Rudolph and countless others have come from. This isn’t the Mike Brown owned and Marvin Lewis led Bengals here. It’s the New England Patriots.
The Pats don’t have the quarterback, yet, but they did upgrade the left tackle. That’s a good sign that the next QB is right on the top of their radar screen. Without the QB the Pats still have more than enough to make a compelling pitch.
They have the resume, the credibility, the unrivaled recent history, the resources, the cache and, oh yeah, the cash. They have enough to make a great pitch and Brown’s acquisition only makes their position to do so stronger.
A great seller with a medium product will beat a medium seller with a great product every day. The Pats have enough for a great pitch and putting their one off-year aside, they have a great product. Are they great sellers? We’ll know this spring.
