Irked Bill Simmons Asks Question About ‘Super Cheap’ Patriots

Bill Simmons is rapidly losing hope for the Patriots.

There wasn’t much to be excited about in New England the last two seasons, but the franchise was in line to quickly improve. The Patriots entered the NFL offseason armed with the league’s most salary space, and they boast one of the best slates of picks in next month’s draft.

But New England didn’t do much spending in the initial wave of free agency, and there are conflicting reports about how the organization wants to tackle the draft. Simmons, a longtime Patriots fan, is having a tough time understanding what’s going on at team headquarters.

“I’m trying to figure out what the Patriots are doing,” Simmons said in a YouTube video, as transcribed by Awful Announcing. “Right now, they have the most money to spend of any team in the league, but free agency’s basically over. They have the third, I think 35th, 68th and 103rd picks out of the top 105. They don’t have a future QB. They don’t have a left tackle. They don’t have an impact receiver. Their only above-average skill position guy is Rhamondre Stevenson, who’s not even a top-10 running back. They’re a D+ offense. New coach. They’re the cheapest team in the last 10 years for spending.

“And I guess my question is, is this just going to be the Patriots until Bob Kraft dies? Just super cheap. They’ve spent the least amount of money for the last 10 years. They let (Tom) Brady go, then they blame (Bill) Belichick for that. And now it just feels like they’re going to trade backward from No. 3 and get a bunch of picks and tell everyone how smart they are. And meanwhile, we’re going to pass up a franchise QB. And not spend money. Great.”

The situation in New England might not be as dire as Simmons makes it out to be. The Patriots managed to retain multiple key free agents and many signs point toward the franchise taking a quarterback at No. 3 in the draft.

But at this point, a lot of New England’s future success hinges on the success of this year’s picks. So the organization better hope to make the most of its eight selections next month.