New England’s Laundry List of Offseason Tasks

By TJ Souhlaris

Now that the Patriots’ disappointing season (by post-millennium Patriots’ fans standards at least) has come to an end, the head honchos that sit in the luxury boxes every game must decide in what direction New England is headed. With many key free agents testing the market like Vince Wilfork, Ben Watson, Logan Mankins, Kevin Faulk and “The Legend” Stephen Gostkowski (© TJ Souhlaris), New England higher-ups and executives are going to have one interesting offseason.
Lets breakdown the Pats’ needs for this upcoming spring.

1) A Competent Pass Rush
With the departures of sack artist Richard Seymour and veteran linebacker Tedy Bruschi before the 2009 season got underway, and with the regressions of young ‘backers Jerod Mayo and Gary Guyton (stats might not agree with me, but you can’t convince me otherwise), the Patriots need to seek another athlete to plop into their 3-4 that can stuff the run and also get after the quarterback. Of course that would be ideal, because that type of player is extremely rare and very expensive, but the NFL Draft may have a couple of opportunities to access a great linebacker. However, the last thing the Patriots need to do is get younger, especially in their linebacking corps, where starters Guyton, Mayo and Tully Banta-Cain have a combined age of the Pittsburgh Steelers—76 years old. Some unrestricted free agent linebackers include Shawne Merriman, who I’d rather see retire than wear Patriot blue, DeMeco Ryans, who the Texans would be absolutely foolish to let walk, and Karlos Dansby, who has had some injury issues as of late. However, the best pass rushers seem to be defensive linemen this offseason, with big names like Julius Peppers, Elvis Dumervil amongst those with expiring contracts. If the Patriots don’t lock up any of these guys, I believe a veteran linebacker like Keith Bulluck (33 years old) or even ancient guys like Bertrand Berry (35, but with six sacks this season) and Jason Taylor (37, seven sacks) would only improve the porous pass rush.

2) A Third Wide Receiver
The terrible knee injury Wes Welker suffered in the Week 17 finale against the Houston Texans not only had immediate playoff implications, but also long-term effects that come with the major reconstructive surgery. The Patriots have made it to Super Bowls with guys like David Patten, David Givens and Deion Branch getting considerable looks on the outside, and have even made it to the AFC Championship games with Reche Bug-Eyed Caldwell dropping passes. Yes, that’s his name, I even looked it up. However, New England can’t rely on its defense to stop teams from scoring anymore, which is why another receiver or two will be critical to next years’ success. The growth of Julian Edelman has been something that has caught every Patriots fans’ attention this year, but Edelman simply does not have the phenomenal hands that Welker possesses. Also, after Edelman, where do you turn? Sam Aiken hasn’t caught more than 50 passes in his entire career which spans six years, and Isaiah Stanback’s career high in catches is three. Fear not, Patriot fans. Big time producers like Brandon Marshall, Vincent Jackson, and one of my personal favorites, Derrick Mason are all free game this offseason. Just envisioning Marshall and Moss as a wide receiver tandem is making me drool. Also, possible projected first or second round picks in this year’s draft include Golden Tate (Notre Dame), Dez Bryant (Oklahoma State), Damian Williams (USC Trojans), Arrelious Benn (Illinois), Brandon LaFell (LSU) and Mardy Gilyard (Cincinnati). Holy sweet stacked draft! Add in a fully recovered Brandon Tate, and the Patriots have a ton of different options and routes they can choose. As long as Tom Brady is still chucking the rock, I don’t think the Patriots offense is going to stagnate anytime soon.

3) Re-signing Vince Wilfork and Logan Mankins
New England’s biggest concerns—literally and figuratively—are going to be re-signing Wilfork and Mankins. Wilfork automatically turns the game into a 10 vs. 9 contest, because if you don’t double team the, the big fella is going to be posted up in your backfield all game long. And Mankins, after being a highly criticized first round pick back in 2005, has shown his worth, with a Pro Bowl under his belt. Simply put, the Patriots need to get these guys back into Foxborough for eight games a year, even if it’s going to cost them a couple nickels to do it.

Other more minor, yet prominent concerns include:
-Cornerback depth.
-A kicker that can match The Legend’s immortal qualities.
-Offensive line power.
-A running back that can hang on to the ball and not kill me during fantasy playoffs. (I’m talking to you, Laurence!).
-An offensive game changer (Jahvid Best out of California? CJ Spiller from Clemson? I’d wet myself if the Patriots stole one of these guys).
-Another player with dreadlocks. Let’s face it, how cool would it be if every defensive player had Brandon Meriweather’s hair? On a scale of Vanilla Ice Cool to Chris Paul Cool, it’s got to rank somewhere close to an 8, right? Who would be 8-cool? Vinny Chase? Me? Kemba Walker? Dirk Nowitzki pre-haircut? Where would LaDainian Tomlinson rank Post-LT Glide? Would he rank higher or lower? Can we make a definitive scale of coolness? Yes, I thought about this for about 20 minutes. And yes, I’m proud of it too.
-And, finally a pass-catching tight end, assuming Ben Watson explores his options
Next time, we’ll be looking at some possible NFL Draft Prospects that the Patriots might be thinking about picking in April.