New England Patriots: 5 offseason needs
By John Buhler
The New England Patriots are the reigning Super Bowl Champions. For them to get back to the Super Bowl, here are five areas to focus on this offseason.
The New England Patriots have won their fifth Super Bowl of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick era. New England overcame a 25-point deficit to thwart the NFC Champion Atlanta Falcons, 34-28 in overtime.
The Patriots clawed their way to yet another Lombardi Trophy and have earned the right to be the presumed favorite to win the AFC again next year and play in Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis. However for New England to get back to the Super Bowl, they will need to address several key areas on their roster.
Heading into the 2017 NFL offseason here are the five places the Patriots will need to focus on with building their football team. Keep in mind that New England will have seven draft picks, one in each round, and roughly $62,946,093 to work with in terms of the salary cap.
5. Vertical wide receiver
The Michael Floyd experiment came and went in New England. What New England was essentially trying to do was to see if the former standout wide receiver for the Arizona Cardinals could have staying power in the Patriots passing game next season.
While New England could bring Floyd back, that doesn’t seem very likely. Though the Patriots are adept in the slot receiver department with players like Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman, New England could always use a vertical threat at wide receiver. It’s been a multi-year issue for them in the Belichick era.
To be fair, New England does have two wideouts that can go vertical in Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell. Hogan could be that big playmaker over the top in the New England passing game, as he did in it both New England last year and Buffalo before that. However, he does have a reputation as a streaky player.
Mitchell may end up being that guy in the long run. However, his track record of injuries while at Georgia are a bit troubling. He has had a clean bill of health the last two years, but his injury-riddled college career is still hard to shake.
The point in looking at a vertical threat at wideout though Hogan and Mitchell can provide that is to be one step ahead of the curve. If New England doesn’t have the threat of going vertical in the passing game, it could make things harder for Brady to move the chains against upper level NFL defenses.