With the 2021 NFL season raging on for three more weeks, the New England Patriots are unfortunately not included in the party, as all eyes and planning in Foxboro are now toward the 2022 offseason.
While many may view the Patriots’ season as a disappointment due to the thunderous thud that was their AFC wild-card loss to the Buffalo Bills, the campaign was actually an adequate step forward, if not, a minor success.
The team seemingly found their quarterback to build around in Mac Jones, possibly selected a few more potential cornerstones in the draft (Christian Barmore, Rhamondre Stevenson), and hit on a couple free agents (Matthew Judon, Kendrick Bourne, Hunter Henry) as part of their lavish spending spree last year.
Now, the team must look to build on last offseason by adding a few more pieces, and tinkering with their roster to move one step further in the team’s fairly swift rebuilding process.
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Depending on the maturation of Jones and the team’s ability to continue building, this spring very well could be the final set of steps in returning the team toward the top of the staircase with the list of Super Bowl contenders.
But as of now, the team is projected to have anywhere from roughly $3 million to $17 million in cap space, according to Miguel Benzan/Pats Cap, Over The Cap. and Spotrac. So in assessing our offseason “to-do” list for this team, we made sure to be conscious of that.