Spoiler alert: If you’ve never seen the 1982 horror classic Poltergeist, this column may not be for you. Also, go watch it. It’s great.
In the first season of the post-Bill Belichick rebuild, it’s become clear the Patriots left the bodies, and only moved the headstones.
Yes, two weeks away from Halloween, that’s a reference to the climax of Steven Spielberg’s “Poltergeist.” In the film, the Freeling family settle into their freshly built home in the planned neighborhood of Cuestra Verde. Unfortunately for them, the housing developer constructed the entire suburb on an old graveyard without…moving the bodies.
The Patriots sit at 1-5 with issues so deeply rooted in personnel, it’s difficult to lay down a fresh foundation without the caskets of the past bursting through the floorboards and flinging open old skeletons.
This assessment isn’t about blaming the greatest coach in NFL history for the Patriots’ current state. Eliot Wolf shoulders the responsibility of a lackluster free agency period in 2024 and many other aspects of both New England’s roster and coaching staff. Jerod Mayo has to answer for the team’s repeated penalties on Sundays and growing list of off-field incidents.
But in exploring how and why the Patriots went from winning a Super Bowl five years ago to looking up at the rest of the league, it’s impossible to pin it all on the current regime.
For example, Wolf’s offensive line has been odorous this season. His free agency options were extremely limited, from overspending for Jonah Williams to trying out a young tackle like Yosh Nijman. But the Patriots are largely in this position because between 2016 and 2023, they drafted 14 offensive linemen and have only retained four: Jake Andrews (Injured Reserve), Sidy Sow, Cole Strange, and Mike Onwenu.
Through seven draft classes the Patriots only have one player who can sometimes play tackle in Onwenu.
The closest they’ve come to finding an answer through free agency or trades is Vederian Lowe.
It’s a similar situation at wide receiver. Active receivers Kendrick Bourne, Ja’Lynn Polk, Demario Douglas, and Kayshon Boutte were all either a free agency swing or drafted in 2023 or 2024. From 2016 to 2022, only one of six receivers drafted between 2016 and 2022 remain on this roster: Tyquan Thornton. Wolf is reportedly shopping him around.
Mayo was asked about the state of the roster during his weekly appearance on WEEI’s Greg Hill Show, Mayo’s answer was a coy “You tell me.”
If New England’s goal was to divest themselves from Belichick’s work over the past five years, they failed to see it’s about more than building a beautiful new house. They got Bill out of the building, but their next head coach and leader of the front office were former Belichick employees – if not outright disciples, in Mayo’s case.
Working under Belichick should have provided the present leaders on the Patriots with a wealth of football knowledge and an incomparable perspective of the game, even if his other assistant coaches haven’t found success in their relative head coaching stints. But it’s not exactly thinking outside the box when embarking on a full rebuild of the program.
Then again, wiping the slate clean in one offseason would have been nearly impossible for the Krafts after two decades of near-complete Belichick rule. That’s like trying to relocate the entire 1660-originated Granary burying ground out of Boston Common (don’t do that).
So the Patriots find themselves stuck between two worlds: the realm of Bill and whatever comes next. They're trying to go towards the light.
The Krafts, coaching staff, and Wolf will be accountable for how the rest of the season unfolds. Will they be able to at least nurture and develop rookie Drake Maye with an eye towards a more successful – and meaningful – 2025? Or will they find themselves trapped in a mud pit in their own backyard, clawing at slop as a nightmare overwhelms them?
Don’t forget the position the program was in last winter. The Patriots have been at rock bottom, but they’re still dealing with deeply-rooted problems.