After Brandon Aiyuk’s loss, the Patriots have no face left to save

After Brandon Aiyuk’s loss, the Patriots have no face left to save originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston

The Patriots do not get out of the draw Brandon Aiyuk to save face. By the time they pulled the rope, her face had already disappeared.

Aiyuk wasted half of it. Calvin Ridley took the other half during free agency.

The Patriots need full reconstructive surgery, and until they look much better, they will find talented players with options that just don’t like them.

The operation could be a success. They have a very good defensethe third overall pick learning the ropes as a quarterbackyoung wideouts (DeMario Douglas, Ja’Lynn Polk, Javon Baker) that are sparking optimism and an offensive scheme that showed promise in the last week of camp (although behind a very leaky offensive line).

But we won’t know for another six months until the bandages come off and the world sees what the first AB (After Bill) season will be like.

As we watch the Patriots get rejected, it’s worth remembering that it took five or six years of digging for the Patriots to get to the bottom of the hole they’re in. It will take more than five or six months to dig.

And as they climb out of the abyss trying to get players like Aiyuk or Ridley to stare into the void, they must realize that these guys are not going to step down to join an unproven first-year head coach with a project quarterback in a cold climate. with high taxes that is just beginning its second reconstruction this decade.

The Patriots haven’t been this unattractive since 1992 — before Parcells and before Bledsoe. Belichick dug this hole. He could have continued digging if the Krafts hadn’t I kindly removed the shovel in January.

Since Belichick’s departure, the team has spent some of the money he accumulated on re-signing the good players left behind. Guys who want to be part of the resurrection.

All except the deals made to Mike Onwenu and Kyle Dugger were for reasonable money. Guys who were here want to stay. They just can’t import anyone. Is it because they are not willing to pay the “shit tax” and surpass other applicants, while at the same time they are slow to accept that they are not a privileged destination? Would they have been rejected even if they pulled the guys out of the water? Maybe both.

What is clear, however, is that they are not going to buy their way out of this situation with a get-rich-quick scheme.

Maybe Bill could have done it. The chance to play for the greatest coach of all time – even after the rose bloomed – was still an attraction. But it’s hard to imagine Belichick paying more than $25 million for Ridley or Aiyuk, much less giving Dugger and Onwenu the contracts they got. And what would he have done in the draft? Would the team have charted a new course or would they still be sailing waiting for the wind to change?

Keeping with the nautical theme, it’s like turning a battleship. The only way to accelerate the pivot is on the field. They don’t need to exude excellence, just competence. They don’t need to finish .500. Just be a watchable team that opponents aren’t excited to play.

Until there are signs that this is happening, the Patriots can expect to be left on “reading” for good players who would otherwise have a chance to go to winning teams. Or — in Aiyuk’s case with the Steelers – teams with established programs and mildly attractive quarterbacks.

There’s no shame in the Patriots saying, “Screw it, let’s go with what we have…” And that shouldn’t stop them from entering the fray again. (It’s better not to: they’re still sitting on a pile of cash for this year and next).

But until they are a better team, they can expect potential players to say, “Sorry. This is not going to work. It’s not me. And you.”