A couple of weeks ago it was brought to my attention that the Patriots haven’t signed a player they drafted in the first three rounds to a new contract since Duron Harmon in 2013.
https://twitter.com/zackcoxnesn/status/1719465590291583462?s=46&t=WDssGKRiBK809z9_TEeosA
However, i decided to take a closer look at their drafting on offense in early rounds and came up with this.
Cole Strange, Tyquan Thornton, Mac Jones, Devin Asiasi, Dalton Keene, N’Keal Harry, Damien Harris, Yodny Cajuse, Isaiah Wynn, Sony Michel, Antonio Garia, Joe Thuney, Jacoby Brissett
This goes back to 2016 and none of the players drafted in the first 3 rounds of any of these drafts have been particularly impressive. Infact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a team that has drafted worse on offense in the entire league than the Patriots within this time period.
Not only that, the guys they’ve brought in as free agents or traded for have mostly been failures as well, this includes Mohamed Sanu who they traded a 2020 2nd round pick for in 2019 and Jonnu Smith who received a substantial contract and had extremely poor production while he was here.
I say all of that to say that if you are expecting GM Bill Belichick to solve this team’s problems on offense, I’ve got a bridge to sell you. I doubt anyone has done worse that still has a job.
Jonnu Smith is actually playing at a really high level in Atlanta. Being on bad offenses in NE appears to have been the problem, not that he’s a bad player. He’s on pace to have the most yards and receptions in a season in his career by far. Sony Michel went on an amazing playoff run and ending to the 2018 season that helped the team win a championship. Chubb would’ve likely been a better pick, but I can’t knock a guy who goes on a championship run as a wasted pick.
They completely failed Jonnu Smith. It’s as if they hadn’t watched his tape or analyzed how he would be best fit the Patriots. They failed to put him in position to use his unique skills, and then, gave him sparse targets and never schemed him into the game plan. The one time they seemed to try to feature him, (the Saints game), he had a bad drop, tipped a ball into an INT and had a couple penalties….that was it, the coaches stopped trusting him and that was pretty much the last time anyone made any effort to turn it around with him.
Then he goes to Atlanta and pops off like a top 10 TE and looks like a beast. His experience with NE is a great microcosm of just how dysfunctional things have become in NE.
He’s a great weapon and for once the Pats made a great call signing him, but then just dragged him down and made it look like he failed, when it was a complete failure by the team.
He is owed an apology from BB and Co. for what they did to him while he was here. I’m glad he got the opportunity to show the world how badly he got screwed here.