The New England Patriots haven’t even reached the halfway point, and somehow, the season already feels like it’s in shambles.
Granted, they technically have time to turn things around and completely change the narrative that was created over the first five games of the season. It would take a herculean effort with the team sitting dead last in the AFC East division with a 1-4 record.
They have a shot at getting back in the win column in Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, but then they’ll turn around and have to face the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.
So there probably is no saving this Patriots team as currently constructed. If anything, it’s a good time for reflection to find out exactly how the franchise with one of the NFL’s highest all-time winning percentages is now one of the worst teams in the league. How did things get to this point?
It starts at the top with the general manager/coach Bill Belichick.
Today, we’re ranking the six biggest 2023 mistakes by Belichick that led to the current disaster in New England.
6
Not signing DeAndre Hopkins
The Patriots were very much in the mix to land five-time Pro Bowl receiver DeAndre Hopkins before the start of the season, but Belichick bailed once the Tennessee Titans got seriously involved.
Hopkins is a proven No. 1 receiving option with a stellar resume to back up the hype, and Belichick was still fishing for a discount. That made it an easy decision for Hopkins once the Titans stepped up their offer.
The most infuriating part is the fact that it was a two-year, $26 million deal, which was a price tag the Patriots could have definitely made work at the time. It’s scary to think Belichick looked at his current receivers and Hopkins and still believed the Patriots were better off with what they already had.
5
Spending fourth-round draft pick on K Chad Ryland
After completely ignoring the offensive side of the ball in the first three rounds of the 2023 NFL draft, Belichick decided to use a fourth-round pick on kicker Chad Ryland.
I’m not going to pile on Ryland, who is 4-of-8 kicking field goals for the Patriots this season. He’s a young player that was thrown in the deep end of the pool from the start. There’s still a chance that he figures it out and becomes a solid long-term investment for the team.
But the Patriots didn’t need a kicker badly enough to throw away a mid-round pick that could have been used on greater positions of need, like wide receiver or offensive tackle. They still had veteran kicker Nick Folk, for crying out loud.
Los Angeles Rams star rookie receiver Puka Nacua was also still on the board when Ryland was selected. He’s a player that the Patriots showed interest in before the NFL draft as well. But instead of committing fully to offense, Belichick shifted his focus to special teams.
BYU receiver Puka Nacua has met with the Patriots at the combine (his first interview here) and also spoke with them at the Senior Bowl.
"I'd love to go play out there. I'm from Utah, so being out there in the cold and snow is something I'm used to." pic.twitter.com/kCozrBkLGN
— Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) March 3, 2023
Nacua has hit the ground running for the Rams and is currently the No. 2 receiving yards leader behind Miami Dolphins All-Pro wideout Tyreek Hill.
4
Letting Jakobi Meyers leave in free agency
Belichick letting one of the few receiving talents he got right leave in free agency was one of the biggest gut punches of all.
Jakobi Meyers went from undrafted rookie free agent to Mac Jones’ most reliable receiving target. Even when the offense was on the brink of disaster under Matt Patricia in 2022, Meyers still led the team with 67 receptions for 804 yards and six touchdowns.
He was a third-down security blanket on a team that rarely has receivers that can consistently get open. Belichick admits that the team was close to re-signing Meyers to an extension, but the deal ultimately fell through.
The coach didn’t want to pay his undrafted diamond and opted to use the money on JuJu Smith-Schuster instead. New England signed Smith-Schuster, who was playing through knee issues late in the 2022 postseason, to a three-year, $33 million deal, while Meyers signed with the Las Vegas Raiders for three years and $33 million as well.
Cold world lol https://t.co/YtYqjrymUw
— Jakobi Meyers (@jkbmyrs5) March 15, 2023
So far, Meyers has more receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns than every skilled position player on the Patriots’ entire roster, even after missing one game due to injury. Meanwhile, Smith-Schuster has only caught 14 passes for 86 yards, which is only the seventh-best on the team.
It’s one of the greatest misfires you’ll ever see at the executive level of personnel decisions.
3
Inability to develop a young quarterback
I’m trying to keep the focus on 2023, but it’s hard to ignore the damage that was ultimately done by the 2022 season.
As a rookie quarterback with Josh McDaniels at his side, Mac Jones was a Pro Bowler. It’s easy to forget he opened his NFL career throwing for 3,801 yards, 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. That’s a strong opening campaign for a first-timer under center in the NFL.
But everything fell apart the moment McDaniels accepted the head coaching job for the Las Vegas Raiders. Instead of hiring a new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Belichick passed the duties off to defensive coach Matt Patricia and offensive assistant Joe Judge.
Patricia also served as the offensive line coach. It’s actually pretty shocking when looking back on that decision by Belichick. As a result, the entire offense regressed, including the quarterback.
Jones took a beating in the media, and the fan base started to turn once the wins became losses. He went from being the future great successor to Tom Brady to being benched for backup Bailey Zappe.
It was a mess.
The offensive line didn’t have great coaching, and the play-calling as a whole was a disaster. Throw in the fact that the team was severely lacking at the skilled positions and it was obvious no quarterback was winning with the Patriots.
Along with the offensive turmoil, Jones had to deal with his own coach rarely, if ever, committing to him publicly as being the guy in New England. At a time when the coach’s job is to create a stable environment and develop a young quarterback, Belichick had Jones playing scared in a bad offense.
Granted, Belichick has been more vocal about Jones being the primary starter this season, but it feels like the damage has already been done at this point.
2
Not drafting any offensive tackles
Most projections heading into the 2023 NFL draft had the Patriots taking an offensive tackle with their first-round pick. But understandably, the team pounced on cornerback Christian Gonzalez when he fell down the board.
The problem wasn’t drafting Gonzalez, Keion White or even Marte Mapu. It was Belichick completely ignoring the tackle position altogether in the draft. There was some foreshadowing that he wasn’t prioritizing the position after paying veteran Riley Reiff $4.15 million in guaranteed money.
But even with Reiff on the roster, it was expected that Belichick would at least attempt at drafting for the future. Reiff was a 34-year-old offensive lineman that didn’t even start every game for the Chicago Bears last season. It’s like the Patriots were trying to cover a gaping wound with a Band-Aid.
Now, they can’t stop the bleeding, even after desperate attempts to add a couple of more Band-Aids in Vederian Lowe and Tyrone Wheatley Jr. The team was ill-prepared at tackle, and now, the guard position has been ravaged with injuries.
1
Too stubborn to change old ways
This is the one mistake on the list that Belichick still has time to fix.
It’s time for a hard reset in the way he approaches personnel decisions. The legendary coach prioritizes defense and bargain bin shops on the offensive side of the ball. That was fine when Tom Brady was the starting quarterback, but now that Belichick doesn’t have the greatest signal-caller of all time under center, his team-building philosophies are being exposed.
The Patriots need to start prioritizing players on the offensive side of the ball as much as they do defense, if not more at times. That means finding a willingness to pay top-end money for a No. 1 receiver. It also means changing scouting methods to help improve decisions made, particularly in the draft.
Recent draft picks on the offensive side of the ball, such as guard Cole Strange and wide receiver N’Keal Harry, were left-field swings for players that probably still would have been on the board a bit later.
At 71 years old and likely stuck in his ways, it’s hard to envision Belichick changing at this point. He’ll have to if the team has any hopes of turning things around.
