The playoffs are likely out of the question for the New England Patriots in the second stretch of the 2023 season.
But what they do from here on out still matters because it will ultimately determine where they pick at in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft. If the season ended today, they would be the No. 5 overall pick of the draft.
Along with draft positioning, the rest of the year is about evaluating the talent on the roster and seeing if it’s beneficial to keep that talent around long-term. No one likes the word rebuild, but the Patriots are in a prime position to start over at multiple spots on the roster, including players and coaches.
New England entered the season with the hardest schedule in the NFL, and aside from a few winnable games, things won’t get much easier on the backend.
Here are the Patriots’ remaining games on the schedule, ranked from easiest to hardest: