The New England Patriots' offseason was full of moves intended to help them get back into the postseason.
Will they be enough to influence some playoff wins? Well, that's a different question entirely, according to ex-Patriots safety Devin McCourty.
New England went out and added a significant amount of new faces this offseason. They hired Bill O'Brien to run the offense and brought in Adrian Klemm and Will Lawing alongside him to completely revamp the offensive coaching staff. New England also added the likes of JuJu Smith-Schuster, Mike Gesicki, James Robinson, Riley Reiff and Calvin Anderson to freshen up the faces around Mac Jones. On the other side of the ball, the Patriots added top cornerback prospect Christian Gonzalez in the draft to the No. 11 ranked defense from a year ago.
That's an offseason that has given Patriots fans every right to be excited. They just shouldn't be expecting it to turn into playoff wins anytime soon.
"I do think they're a better team than the way we ended last season," McCourty said on NBC Sports Boston's "Quick Slants" on Tuesday. "I think Billy O'Brien makes a big difference on offense. I think that helps, but the question is does it matter if you're better but the division's better, everyone else is better. I think that's what it comes down to, is this a playoff winning team? Not just get to the playoffs, but is this team good enough to win a playoff game?"
While the Patriots made some positive moves, it's hard to argue they got so much better than literally any of their AFC East rivals. The Buffalo Bills added ex-Patriots running back Damien Harris in an effort to clean up the lone weakness on their offense. The Miami Dolphins traded for all-world cornerback Jalen Ramsey. The New York Jets, well, they (finally) added Aaron Rodgers in one of the biggest offseason moves of the decade.
Enjoy Smith-Schuster, though, Patriots fans.
In all seriousness, this offseason was one for upgrades in the division. That's a good and bad thing for New England, who might finish fourth in the AFC East and still make the postseason given the three wild-card spots up for grabs in the conference. The likelihood of that happening is slim, but not impossible.
