Patriots 2024 Offseason Thread

Yep, don't forget Jesus.

If you want Kirk Cousins you just send him highlights of MHJR from YouTube and spend the rest of your draft/money on offensive line and TE

QB problem solved!

nfltraderumors.co/steelers-releasing-qb-trace-mcsorley-from-ps/

I would hate to be Bob Kraft and son right now. Only the future of the franchise is at stake. Keep BB with a new GM? Fire him and eat $25mil? Then hire Vibrel? Would McDaniel be available to help on the O side? Does Mayo get upset and leave? What about Judge and O'Brien? Are they let go or quit? All this and it doesn't even address their player needs. Whatever they decide, the effect will be long term and they know it. They have to make the right decision, but figuring what that is is difficult and probably a little finger crossing. And you thought the Red Sox were screwed up.

The end of an era is hard. Brady is not walking through that door again. BB was always a great defensive coach and let Brady handle the offense. Unfortunately, defense is no longer as important as it once was. You have to score to win. Holding the other team down helps, but you need points to win. The next QB doesn't have to be great, but he'd better be good. Then you have to nail the draft, otherwise it will be more of the same. With all the talk about what will happen to BB, no one is talking about a future GM. Do they have someone in mind? No names have popped up. It seems to me that the new GM is just as important as whoever is the coach. Without good players, the team goes nowhere. We have a great draft pi order and lots of cap space. A good GM will use it to make the team better. So, he's just as important, if not more so, than whoever is the coach.

If they really want Vrabel, they'd better act quick. If they wait too long, he'll be coaching the Chargers by next week. Then what?

If Bill is back coaching this team, I don’t want to hear anything Tom Curran has to say about the team again.

There's a reason teams do it on Monday right after last game, you don't have much time to put together a staff on the coaching side or GM side before free agency, combine, senior bowl, draft, etc. Whatever Kraft is doing it needs to be done quickly.

If you want a veteran QB given this OL and you are taking Harrison at #3 I go after Russell Wilson. He's just a better fit, has won more and fits into our system, which is basically the Seahawks type system, D, running, etc.

Even now, Curran is acting like he can't lose: if Bill is retained it'll be the Kraft's changing their minds, rather than him reporting the details of their intentions incorrectly (or with too much certainty), even though he spoke about it with absolute certainty for weeks. I actually think he's a quality reporter with good Pats sources, but in the past decade he's allowed personal relationships to influence his work. After forming a relationship with Alex Guerrero and the Brady family, his work started to have a noticeable bias on that topic. Now we're seeing the same thing in regards to Mayo.

Last night, Curran and Phil Perry suggested Vrabel was unlikely to replace Bill if he's fired, with the sole reason being the Kraft's are "methodical" and there's been a long term plan to eventually turn it over to Mayo. Their evidence, according to Curran, is last offseason Kraft was "indicating that he felt that Mayo was the heir apparent", and claims there was a press release and letter to season ticket holders which "said Mayo would be the successor". I just re-read the season ticket holder letter and it had no references to Mayo, unless there were multiple letters and I missed it. The press release about Mayo indicated they wanted him long term, but nothing definitive about a succession plan. Kraft did later say "well, he's definitely a strong candidate to be the heir apparent, but we have some other good people in our system". Other statements included Kraft saying “there’s no ceiling on [Mayo’s] ability to be a head coach” and that he he hopes “he’s with us.” These are far less definitive statements than Curran and Perry are now suggesting them to be, and I'd imagine if Mayo isn't the next HC they'll report on it as if Kraft had a "change of heart" with that too, or worse he went back on his word, when that's not the case at all. Kraft's comments weren't much different from when Josh was extended after rejecting the Colts, and back then many in the media reported he was the heir apparent and Bill would "open up football ops to him", only to see him eventually leave for the Raiders.

Curran and Perry carry Mayo's water but rarely acknowledge the fact they used to all do a TV show together. It's not surprising they don't want the coach who never gives them anything (Belichick) in exchange for a guy they used to partner with on the media side of things. You'd think they'd be able to objectively look at the situation and say "well the Patriots couldn't have expected Vrabel would be a free agent, and with his accolades as a Patriot player, his relationship with Robert, and his head coaching experience it'll be interesting if the Patriots prefer him or Mayo at this point". Nope, instead they misrepresent Kraft's year old comments (at a time when Kraft was also saying he believes in Mac) as if it's the gospel right now. I refuse to believe they are that naive, but confirmation bias may kick in when you've been rooting for your buddy to get the job, especially since it'd make their job (creating content and reporting information) easier too. While Vrabel would be easier for them to cover than Bill, I'd imagine Curran and Perry feel like they'd have a lot more access with Mayo and are clearly rooting for it.

That’s wild the Seahawks did that

Wow.

BB’s buddy Nick Saban is retiring.

Vrabel >> Mayo > the Field. I'm not ready to enter a new Era in the unknown.

Biggest questions to me: do they hire a GM, a Head of Football Ops, or a coach first. And if it's Vrabel or Mayo, how does the pursuit of an offense work? Are we like the rest of the league now where the OC brings the system, subject to whims of hires and fires?

Also BB is the greatest and I will miss him dearly. "Everything ends badly, otherwise it wouldn't end."