The New England Patriots, after putting together an embarrassing collection of weapons last season, are reversing course quite a bit.
Though nothing is official yet, the Patriots reportedly have agreed to deals with tight ends Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry, plus wideouts Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne.
That already elevates things quite a bit, but it’s leaving people asking: Well, what about quarterback?
New England last week re-signed Cam Newton on a one-year deal, but he is making backup money. He is not the worst option under center, but certainly there are better options.
According to Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard, New England’s plan is to go all in on a quarterback in the draft.
“Obviously things can change, and the weaponry assembled by the Patriots might cause someone to toss out their contract. But the plan right now is for the Patriots to go all in on the draft QBs. All options are open. Could mean trade up. Could mean standing pat at 15. Could also mean the Patriots target someone later.
“All options open.”
The quarterback most often linked to the Patriots in the draft is Mac Jones, in large part because he seems like the only one of the top signal-callers that would be available to the Patriots at 15th overall. It’s unclear, obviously where all the chips would fall, but the Patriots reportedly have been scouting all the top options. That includes Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State’s Justin Fields, North Dakota’s Trey Lance and BYU’s Zach Wilson.
Pairing one of them with Newton in camp and letting them battle it out, with Jarrett Stidham also as a depth option, might be the most sound approach if they elect not to target a quarterback in free agency.
Given what we’ve seen already from the Patriots this offseason, a big move to snag one of the other top guys does not appear off the table.
