Weaponized
Before the start of free agency, de facto GM, Elliott Wolf described their goal in the off-season that is "weaponizing the offense ".
Well, once I read an article about a prostitute bludgeoning, a man with a dildo. I'm forced to wonder if that's the kind of weapon Wolf had in mind, because the offense looks like dick.
The "weapons" that have been added to the offense are Antonio Gibson and Austin Hooper. Last year Gibson recorded a whopping 264 yards rushing. He may serve as a third down back that the office has been lacking since James White. He very well also may be cut before the end of camp, but considering the Patriots only have two running backs on the roster currently, you can probably lock him in. Austin Hooper barely qualifies as an upgrade over Mike Gesiki who was a skid mark on what was already a piece of shit season for the worst ranked offense in football. So, cue the duck boats.
Other offensive talent was retained were your own guys in Mike OnWenu and Hunter Henry. And for some godforsaken reason Jalen Reagor who quite literally looked like he has never seen a football in the air before trying to catch a pass last season.
Calvin Ridley was the big named acquisition that had been rumored right from the beginning of the legal tampering period for the Patriots. It was reported and confirmed that they took a big swing at Ridley. A swing and a miss. For the second year in a row, the Tennessee Titans came in and out bid the Patriots on the margins to snatch their preferred receiver out from under them. Last year it was DeAndre Hopkins and now this year Calvin Ridley to the tune of four years and $92 million. Of which the Patriots under bid by $10 million guaranteed. Even I can do the math on that it's two 2.5 million dollars a year. I generally think they wanted the player. They want a veteran wide receiver, they need to improve that room from the NFL ranks and Elliot Wolf just got out played. Still, it begs the question on how much did they really want him if they let their offer hang for as long as they did, allowing a third team to swoop in and leverage the contract?
Alas, we move on. Your best wide receiver on the roster is Kendrick Bourne, who only has one knee, struggles at running routes, has been in and out of the doghouse in New England for three years. He’s flat out a borderline number three wide receiver in the league. Patriots came into the off-season with the most or minimally top three cap space in the league. It's been well documented that they are the least cash spending team over the past decade. They're coming off the worst year in the history of the Kraft’s owning the team. In the wake of firing the greatest coach of all time, which is already in the wake of letting go the greatest player of all time only to see him win a Super Bowl immediately with another team.
That's all to say you'd think the Krafts would be savvy enough to land a splash for nothing else than a couple good headlines and some warm fuzzies from the fans. That's what they need to do right now. There are reports that the team will now look to the draft to address the wide receiver room. Fuck that, that's wrong. You've got $60 million to spend to the cap go dump some big short money in the lap of a Mike Williams and a Tyron Smith to solidify NFL talent at two of your biggest positions of need in addition to drafting in at those same positions of left tackle and wide receiver. Let the kids grow similarly to how they should treat the quarterback position. Behind veterans who are here short term. Hell, why else Jacoby Brissett here? It’s not to go to the playoffs. Brissett locks your max win total potential at 8. He’s never been above .500 as a starter. Not even close.
I understand they have a philosophy that they need to rebuild this program and you do that for the draft. I agree with that but that's gonna take a few years, anyway. The only reason not to spend some big short money on NFL talent is the line the pockets of the Krafts . How much bigger can the scoreboard get? Do you need two gigantic lighthouses? If the make that bitch taller could you see all the way Canton?
To this point the only thing Eliott Wolf has weaponized are the wits and rage of a disgruntled fan base. Who are starting to ask themselves if there are two John Henry's in Boston. You don’t want to be John Henry, Robert. Spend the money.