ESPN’s Field Yates says Bill Belichick ‘is ready to spend’ this offseason
If the New England Patriots are going to become a team contending for the playoffs this season, there will need to be drastic change.
Bill Belichick’s squad was depleted of talent and energy last year following the departure of Tom Brady, and they were lucky to walk away with a 7-9 record. Fortunately, the team will reportedly return all of the opt-outs and that’s a great starting point. But, a quarterback for the 2021 season still needs to be found and that will determine the level of attention free agents give the team this offseason.
The Patriots have the fourth-most cap space in the league and that’s one factor that isn’t typically the case for Belichick. With the potential of grabbing a franchise player with pick No. 15 and the money available to sign players, Belichick may not be in bad shape.
ESPN’s Field Yates discussed the Patriots’ current offseason situation on “Get Up” Thursday morning.
“You look at teams, like, for example, the Patriots, who are flush with capital this offseason in terms of cap space,” he said, transcribed by NESN. “This is a team that could have 60-plus million dollars in cap space if they do nothing. That number could balloon if they make a couple of cuts on their own. And let me ask you something that’s a rhetorical question: Do you think Bill Belichick wants to go 7-9 again next year? Yeah, we know the answer to that question.
“We’ll talk about the quarterback solution the Patriots have to figure out at some point this offseason. But when you’ve got teams that are effectively sitting out in free agency — you’ve gone from 32 to 24 teams that are actually spending and the Patriots have a stack of cash — I know this team was down last year, but I expect them to look a lot different by the time we get to the first wave of free agency. Bill Belichick is ready to spend.”
Belichick may have something to prove still regarding his legacy after Brady’s seventh Super Bowl victory.
