Out of the top 50 free agents, PFF doesn’t have any landing with the Patriots
In a rare season that the New England Patriots carry the fourth-most cap space in the NFL, they’re also one of the least attractive landing spots.
After winning Super Bowl LV, Tom Brady proved he was the heartbeat of the organization while Bill Belichick struggled to put together a 7-9 season. Core veterans like Matthew Slater, Devin McCourty, Julian Edelman, Patrick Chung and Dont’a Hightower are all getting older. It’s cold in Foxborough and playing in the militant environment isn’t ideal for a lot of players without a clear path to a Super Bowl.
Another huge deterrent is the uncertainty at the quarterback position. The Patriots still don’t appear to have anything solidified at quarterback and it’s hard for free agent skill players to come in without knowing who the signal-caller is. For all these reasons, Pro Football Focus predicted landing spots for the top 50 free agents and excluded the Patriots.
They did guess that two Patriots would depart to different teams within this list — Cam Newton (Washington Football Team) and Joe Thuney (Cincinnati Bengals).
PFF on Newton’s potential landing spot.
The interest for Newton isn’t likely to be strong after how his one-year “prove-it” deal went with New England in 2020. He brought value to the run game in short-yardage situations and in the red zone, but the downfield passing was wildly inconsistent. Newton completed four or fewer passes on throws of 10-plus yards downfield in 11 of his 15 starts in 2020 and completed only 14 deep passes over 20 yards downfield on the year. Overall, the accuracy was poor from Newton, as he ranked just 28th in percentage of accurate passes thrown beyond the line of scrimmage.
Washington is in the veteran quarterback market this offseason and Football Team head coach Ron Rivera, who also coached Newton in Carolina, could reunite with the 2015 MVP and give him a shot to compete with Taylor Heinicke.
PFF on Thuney’s potential landing spot.
It’s no secret that Cincinnati’s offensive line has been among the worst in the NFL for quite some time now — they have ranked in the bottom five in PFF grade in each of the last four years. Last season, they came in at No. 30 in combined offensive line PFF grade.
Left tackle Jonah Williams and center Trey Hopkins performed quite well relative to their counterparts, but the rest of the line was a downright liability. And following the season-ending injury to Joe Burrow last year, they know they can’t afford to ignore the line in free agency.
They have the cap space to make a massive move in free agency to address that fact, and Thuney — who grew up just outside the Cincinnati area — could well be that big signing. Thuney ranks sixth among left guards in PFF grade since entering the league in 2016. He also has never ranked lower than 13th in a single season among all guards in WAR generated.
Bill Belichick will have to work harder as a general manager than he’s ever had to in his two decades with the team.
