There are plenty of reasons to believe the Patriots will contend for another Super Bowl title this season, but New England’s offseason maneuvering isn’t chief among them.
While the Patriots have added some fresh faces capable of making an impact, they’ve also lost several key contributors from last season’s championship-winning squad. Thus, New England will need to rely heavily on its core — namely the quarterback-coaching tandem of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick — in 2019.
ESPN.com recently ranked each team in the NFL based on how it improved (or didn’t) this offseason. The rankings — which didn’t factor in each team’s skill level, but rather how its roster has changed since the 2018 season — took into account free agent signings, trade acquisitions, draft selections and coaching changes.
The Patriots checked in at No. 30. Only the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins ranked lower, showing how unimpressed ESPN insiders Kevin Seifert, Dan Graziano and Mike Clay are by New England’s offseason roster turnover.
Here’s what Clay wrote:
New England always seems to come out of the other side just fine, but there’s no doubt this roster took ta hit. Gronkowski (arguably the best tight end the NFL has ever seen), Brown (stellar as the team’s 2018 left tackle) and Hogan (paced Patriots wide receivers in snaps in 2018) are gone and set to be replaced by a player who initially retired this offseason and is suspended four games (Watson), and a pair of youngsters who have never played an NFL down (Isaiah Wynn, Harry). Bennett and Collins help ease some of the sting of losing Flowers and Brown. But Tom Brady will have a bit more on his shoulders during his age-42 campaign.
Again, it’s important to note this isn’t a reflection of how ESPN expects the Patriots to fare this season. It’s simply an assessment of what New England’s current roster looks like relative to last season’s team. And the Patriots lost multiple high-performing starters, including tight end Rob Gronkowski, defensive end Trey Flowers and offensive tackle Trent Brown.
The Cleveland Browns have the NFL’s most improved roster ahead of the 2019 season, according to the ESPN rankings. Two of the Patriots’ AFC East foes — the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets — rounded out the top three.
