Wheelhouse Blog

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.

A lot of times you hear how important it is for QBs to face adversity in high school or college if they want to be successful in the NFL. This is something I couldn’t agree with more. Why exactly is this the case?

Based on my vast knowledge of what it takes to be a successful NFL QB (by vast, I mean absolutely none whatsoever), here is what I think. In life, we all face moments that rock us to the core and force us to face our toughest internal demons and critics. No matter how good a QB is, they will inevitably face difficult situations, which can lead to self-doubt and damaged confidence.

When they face these moments, they can either give up or fight another day. It is in these situations when they really see what they are made of. When a QB deals with these difficulties in high school or college, they have far fewer eyes and much less pressure on them. Don’t get me wrong, these moments are still extremely hard to deal with. As a high schooler or college student going through these issues, they will probably feel like the hardest things they’ve ever dealt with.

However, when you get to deal with these internal and external struggles away from the entire country watching (aka the NFL), it allows you to have the time and space to overcome these obstacles in order to erase the self-doubt and win back your confidence. Then, each subsequent time you deal with adversity, you will deal with it better and better. Players like Tom Brady who dealt with a ton of challenges pre-NFL were well-equipped to handle NFL struggles.

Now, imagine an NFL QB who hasn’t dealt with a ton of strife in their life. They are a first-round pick making millions, who is supposed to be the savior of their team and city. When they face adversity for the first time and the inner turmoil it causes, they are doing it with hundreds of millions of eyes on them. That is a ridiculous amount of pressure to deal with! Furthermore, teams and fans barely give these young guys a chance to overcome these struggles.

Look at J.J. McCarthy. He’s only 23 years old, has been in the NFL two years, and has started 10 games. Most fans and people in football are already giving up on him. There is no time and no sympathy, as these are multi-billion-dollar teams with a lot of money at stake. Often, people want to say that a guy isn’t “mentally sound enough” to be an NFL QB. I would argue some guys just need time to build up their confidence and resilience to adversity.

Guys like Sam Darnold, Geno Smith, and Mayfield should give McCarthy hope. Sometimes a reset out of the spotlight gives you the proper time to overcome what you are facing and get in the right headspace to be a QB1 down the road. Then, when you face future challenges, you are more ready to overcome them.

Devon Witherspoon signed a four-year, $132 million contract extension with $101 million guaranteed. This is big for Patriots fans, as there was speculation that Witherspoon and Christian Gonzalez were waiting on each other to sign. Whoever signed first was going to ink a record-breaking deal for a cornerback, and whoever signed second would likely top that.

Look for Gonzo to sign a four-year deal soon worth $134-$140 million, with $102-$105 million guaranteed.

This offseason is evidence of why you want to sign star players as early as possible. With a first-round star player like Gonzo, we have him signed for one more year of his rookie deal plus a fifth-year option. A four-year extension puts him under contract for six years, and the team can spread out his signing bonus over the next five seasons.

This offseason, three cornerback contracts have already been record-setting. Trent McDuffie, Denzel Ward, and Witherspoon have all broken the mark for highest APY, while McDuffie and Witherspoon have each set the record for most guaranteed money.

The Pats and Gonzalez are going to set the market again. The good news is that in future years, CBs will get more expensive and we’ll be happy we did not wait to re-sign Gonzo.

It usually is a good idea to give star players star contracts. Gonzalez absolutely deserves this deal, since he is one of the best defensive players in the league. Teams run into issues when they give solid players star contracts. The NFL is about economics. It’s not just who you sign, but how much you sign them for. I hope that is something the Pats keep in mind.