The Patriots fell apart down the stretch of the 2021 NFL season largely due to shoddy defense.
But despite all of the holes on that side of the ball, most of New England's picks in last week's draft were used on offensive players.
Only three of the Patriots' 10 draft picks this year were defensive players. New England notably targeted offense with its top two selections, and most NFL analysts will tell you Bill Belichick and company reached for both Cole Strange and Tyquan Thornton. As such, ESPN can't help but wonder if the Patriots did enough during draft week to fix the defensive issues that plagued the team last season.
"The Patriots' only two picks on defense through the first five rounds were cornerbacks Marcus Jones and Jack Jones, which was a bit of a surprise," Mike Reiss wrote. "Passing on a deep linebacker class early, the Patriots are banking on their new-look linebacker corps of 2021 fifth-round pick Cameron McGrone, trade acquisition Mack Wilson and returnee Ja'Whaun Bentley to help alter course. They also extended defensive backs Devin McCourty and Adrian Phillips (during the 2021 season), while bringing in veteran safety Jabrill Peppers and cornerback Malcolm Butler in free agency. So, yes, they've made moves leading into the draft ... but they might have missed a good opportunity to do more."
Patriots fans probably should proceed with cautious optimism, at most, about New England's defense for this season. Not only did the Patriots not make great improvements to the unit on paper, but several of their AFC counterparts bettered their offenses over the offseason.
