More burning Patriots questions: Unfinished business in free agency? originally appeared in NBC Sports Boston
We hit you on Wednesday with five of our 10 burning questions facing the Patriots this summer. Now, we’re back with the next five.
This time, less preamble. Less fixation on the attack too. Here we go.
Who is on Gonzo’s side?
Despite his season being extremely short, 2023 first-rounder Christian Gonzalez signaled over the summer and through the first three games that he will be a weapon on defense. But the Patriots could use another boundary corner to deal with the plethora of outside wide receiver talent they will be dealing with.
Jonathan Jones he can he plays outside and sometimes does a good job. But at 1.70 meters, there are times when he runs out of length. He’s a tremendous slot corner.
Third-year corner Marcus Jones is similar. The 2022 third-rounder is a brilliant athlete and made plays as a rookie and last summer before getting injured early last season and missing the year. He is 1.70 meters tall.
The biggest corners the Patriots have are Shaun Wade (6-foot-1), Alex Austin (6-1, seventh round in 2023), Isaiah Bolden (6-2, another seventh round in 2023), rookie sixth rounder Marcellas Dial (6-0) and Marco Wilson (6-0, 2021 fourth round for Arizona).
Can the Patriots find a starting corner in this group that allows them to move Jonathan Jones inside? Or will they need to look to some veteran help who is still on the market (Stephon Gilmore is still around)?
How are you doing the kickoffs?
O new start rules are quite drastic. Designed to maintain the game’s kickoff but reduce the high-speed collisions of the kicking teams with a 65-yard run, the coverage unit will now line up within 40 yards of the receiving team, just five yards from nine of the 11 players. on return. team.
Any shot that lands between the goal line and the 20 must be returned. The covering team cannot move until the ball is touched by a returner or hits the ground. A touchback in the end zone moves the ball to the 30.
There is potential for big returns as the coverage team will be less likely to react to angles taken by the returner because they are much closer.
Will the Patriots invite punt turnovers near the goal line? Will they just get to the end zone and start playing defense in their 30s? When they return, will they deploy a different returner than they would normally use to generate these explosive plays? (Marcus Jones could be a demon in this setting.)
A good portion of the camp will be dedicated to seeing how this plays out.
Crafty guy doing a challenge?
Another special teams topic is the kicker competition. Chad Ryland made just 64 percent of his field goals last year (16 of 25) and was just 7 of 14 from beyond 40 yards. He had some flaws in his rookie season after being drafted in the fourth round last year.
The team brought in free agent Joey Slye this spring. He made 79 percent of his field goals last year and is at 82.3 percent for his career with the Panthers, Texans, Niners and Commanders. A team as offensively challenged as the Patriots can’t afford to sweat the field goal attempts that the rest of the league routinely makes. This is a big summer for Ryland.
Is there enough at tight end?
Hunter Henry was one of the best tight ends to hit the free agent market in March. The Patriots didn’t let him get there. Nice play. He has been – when healthy – a tremendously reliable player for them. But the Patriots need more than just Henry at tight end to make Alex Van Pelt’s offense hum. And there is uncertainty after Henry.
Austin Hooper, 29, was signed in the offseason. His production has declined since he was a 70-plus catch target for the Falcons in 2018 and 2019. But he spent 2020 and 2021 with Van Pelt in Cleveland and has missed just one game over the last three years. He had 31 receptions last year for the Raiders, his lowest output since his rookie year in 2016.
Also in the mix is Florida State seventh-rounder Jaheim Bell. He has a versatile skill set and can get yards after the catch. In fact, Bell carried the ball 73 times in 2022 as a junior at South Carolina. He doesn’t fit the classic tight end profile.
They also signed a happy tight end in Mitchell Wilcox, who has been with the Bengals the past three seasons and has 29 receptions. He’s 6-4, 250 and will definitely have relevance if the Patriots are as run-heavy as they are expected to be.
Any unfinished business?
The end of June is when teams take a hard look at their rosters and available players. Are there spots where a player on the street might be able to beat the group of players in a position group? The signing of Cam Newton in 2020 is a perfect example of this. In March and April, the team wasn’t making overtures for Newton because he thought he was expensive and his style was different from the Patriots’ offense. But in late June, a former MVP available for little money competing with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer? It made sense.
Could the same thing happen on the curve, as we mentioned with Stephon Gilmore? Or address where there are still recognizable names like Donovan Smith, David Bakhtiari, DJ Humphries and Jason Peters?
The team could grow and still try to attack Brandon Aiyuk? They currently have more cap space than any team in the league ($45 million according to About the cap) and this could be used to become sophisticated with Aiyuk. Or they could trade players like Matt Judon and Davon Godchaux who want or need some contract tweaks.
