Going into the offseason, I made some goals I hoped the Pats would achieve. Below I have kept the initial goals I set and added a verdict.
Offensive Line
As the postseason showed, our biggest area of need is offensive line. No one on the o line is so bad that they must be replaced, but no one is good enough that they could not be replaced if we find a better player.
I think we should target a new RT as Morgan Moses will be 35 next year. LT Will Campbell looked good before he got injured towards the end of the year. Coming back from the injury and playing versus great defenses in the postseason, Campbell really struggled. I think he should get one more year at LT and if that doesn’t work out, then move him inside. However, if they were to have the chance at a star LT, I would say get that star LT now and move Campbell inside to guard.
If they can find any great interior linemen, they should try to add them too. Any improvement will benefit the team.
Verdict: The Pats did upgrade the offensive line. They drafted their RT of the future in Caleb Lomu during the first round. He will have the opportunity to develop this year behind Moses. They also added G Alijah Vera-Tucker from the Jets. He is injury-prone, but good when he plays. Depth is still an issue, however the offensive line should be better.
Skill Players
I also think it would be great to try to get another high end wide receiver or tight end. That will help solidify the passing game much more.
Verdict: The Pats added WRs AJ Brown and Romeo Doubs. Both are upgrades over every WR we had last year, and our WR room is now the deepest in the league.
Coaching
Figure out how to blend Terrell Williams and Zak Kuhr. Hopefully Williams will be healthy enough to return as DC next year. Kuhr was so great calling plays, you’d like to see him stay in that role. Ideally, there is a way to retain both of them, without demoting either one and keeping continuity with our defense.
Verdict: They achieved this too. Williams is now the Assistant Head Coach, while Kuhr is the Defensive Coordinator. Both coaches got promotions and are still going to be big contributors to the team.
Bonus
A goal I did not include in the initial blog post, but that I would have liked to see, is Christian Gonzalez getting re-signed. We dropped the ball on this one. He is one of two star players we have and is our best defensive player. Teams should always re-sign great players early, and it looks like we may have missed our chance to do so.
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