Pats Posits: Roster Reset

It was a classic opening week of Patriots free agency, with the team avoiding the monster top-of-roster deals and instead focusing on filling their holes with mid-range vets.

But with the departures of Cordarrelle Patterson and LaAdrian Waddle, more roster holes have appeared and should be addressed in the next couple of weeks as the market settles in.

Let’s jump into some Posits about where the Pats stand now and where they’ll need to focus on next.

Kicker/Punter

If the Pats had to roll out a team tomorrow they’d be competitive across the board aside from the two kicking positions where Ryan Allen and Stephen Gostkowski remain unsigned. Mike Reiss felt there could be some movement on Allen this week and Gostkowski not getting a big deal at the start of free agency bodes well for his potential return.

This are hard positions to project for the Patriots, because at some point the combination of age and price can quickly force the team to cut ties like they did in 2006 when Adam Vinatieri was seamlessly replaced by draft pick Gostkowski.

Returners

I’m always in a panic about leaning on Julian Edelman as the full time punt returner but right now that’s how things are shaping up unless Braxton Berrios makes a leap in more ways than one.

Without Patterson, the Pats also have a kickoff return need as well. Patterson was among the best in the league, not to mention a useful weapon who made a number of different contributions in 2018.

Tackle

Okay, we’re all on board with Isaiah Wynn taking over at left tackle, right? Yes, it’s a little scary handing the reigns over to a new player for the second time in two years when we basically went 17 years always knowing who our left tackle would be.

But there’s no depth behind Wynn and no backup swing tackle, so there’s a significant roster spot still in question and one that could have to provide a starting a player if Wynn or Marcus Cannon were to get hurt. Is Cole Croston ready to take that leap? I think grabbing a high-round tackle would make a lot of sense, especially with an eye toward replacing Cannon eventually.

Wide Receiver

The Pats have signed three receivers in the last week — Phillip Dorsett, Maurice Harris and Bruce Ellington — but none are roster locks, much less starting locks. Chris Hogan‘s return seems unlikely now even as he remains on the market and the fact that there isn’t really a slam dunk left on the market.

The Pats have been aggressive acquiring all kinds of receivers, despite the fact that none have worked out for the long-term. They need to continue to add any value deal they can find. Counting on Josh Gordon is not an option, it’s a potential luxury down the road, but again, this is not a player anyone can pencil in as a starter with any degree of certainty.

Defensive End

The Pats swapped in Michael Bennett for Trey Flowers and brought back John Simon. There is some interesting depth at the position but no clear cut three-down edge player like Flowers was and Rob Ninkovich was before him.

Does Keionta Davis make a leap? The Pats gave him a long look last season before basically red shirting him the last two-thirds of the season. Ufomba Kalmalu is a unique player while Derek Rivers as then pedigree that would make you hope he’d get a shot to be an early-down starter. There are quite a few passing-down guys, but finding two beast edge setters is critical to the Pats early down defense, which feeds into everything.

The good news is that the baseline average Pats team is mostly in place already. Doesn’t mean plenty of spots won’t be upgraded in the draft but this is how the Pats roll, get reasonable vets at every position so there’s no critical needs in late April.

Depth questions definitely remain, but aside from these five positions, there isn’t a glaring critical need. That means the Pats are off to their usual solid start and can no start re-allocating cap space with extensions and new deals to take the 2019 Pats over the top.