This offseason has been tempestuous for the Patriots. Losing the Super Bowl didn’t go over well (spoiled fans alert!) and the backlash was nearly immediate for Bill Belichick as he inexplicably benched Malcolm Butler in the biggest game of the year.
Are the Patriots’ problems real, or just offseason talk?
Thursday’s Rise ‘n Grind explores the Patriots’ rough offseason and whether it’s just meaningless talk or something fans in New England should be worried about.
Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images
The Patriots then lost defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to the Lions as he takes over in Detroit as head coach, and lost assistant special teams coach Ray Ventrone to the Colts as he got a promotion to special teams coordinator.
In free agency, the Patriots lost wide receiver Danny Amendola, Butler, offensive tackles Cameron Fleming and Nate Solder, running back Dion Lewis, and cornerback Johnson Bademosi. They also traded away Brandin Cooks just one year after trading to acquire him.
The team also lost two members of their scouting department, national scout James Liipfert to the Texans, who became Houston’s director of college scouting, and area scout Patrick Stewart to the Eagles as he was promoted to national scout.
Then in April, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Tom Brady had yet to commit to playing in 2018, which started even more rumors and speculation about the team. Brady is of course returning, but it just added more fuel to the fire. It didn’t help that both Brady and Rob Gronkowski failed to show up for the first week of offseason workouts — and all subsequent workouts prior to mandatory minicamp this week.
Needless to say, a lot has gone on with the Patriots this offseason and while the team is used to mostly positivity under Belichick — save for some large-scale scandals like Deflategate and Spygate — this offseason feels different.
Even SB Nation’s Patriots site, Pats Pulpit, is having trouble not reading into Brady failing to show up to OTAs. They’re wondering if the Patriots are still Brady’s top priority.
SB Nation’s Thomas George wrote yesterday that this year’s Super Bowl hangover may be the most challenging for the Patriots to overcome.
”The Patriots used to find solace in saying that they lost two Super Bowls to the Giants but beat the rest in every other Super Bowl instance. Now, adding the Eagles to the list stings. It was cleaner the other way. More palatable,” George writes.
So, does another team have a chance to win the AFC East for the first time in 10 years? Or is all this offseason Patriots drama just offseason talk that Belichick and Brady will wash away with another 12-plus win season?
More NFL news
- Malcolm Jenkins used signs, not words, in a powerful response to President Donald Trump.
- Ryan Shazier is still working on his NFL comeback.
- A Buffalo radio producer said he’d quit if the Bills drafted Josh Allen. So he did.
- The Ravens got penalized for violating NFL OTA rules, which actually could be a good thing.
From SB Nation’s NFL team brands
The Chiefs now have an inside linebackers coach and an outside linebackers coach. It’ll be interesting to see if more teams follow their lead.
The Ravens are being punished, AGAIN, for failing to follow the CBA’s rules regarding offseason practices. You’d think John Harbaugh would know the rules by now ...
Reuben Foster’s legal issues are now resolved. But the NFL could still suspend the 49ers linebacker. Foster has been taking first team reps during OTAs.
Two more players are entering the supplemental draft and now we could see more than one player selected this year.
Matt Patricia is changing things up in Detroit with an unconventional practice schedule this spring. Pride of Detroit explains the changes and their purpose.
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Did you expect to see a photo of Jon Gruden with MC Hammer today?
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