NFL Draft 2020: Patriots Better Off Selecting Receivers In Later Rounds

Previously published on our sister blog, Mainely Patriots

12 April, 2020

Many people are quick to throw blame around for the difficulties that the Patriots' passing game experienced last season - and most of the blame is leveled on the wide receivers.

Some look at head coach Bill Belichick's roster-building process in the 2019 offseason as the talisman of the issues in the passing game, while others focus their displeasure with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels' sometimes nutty play calling, but most of the blame was leveled at the receiving corps itself.

In reality, however, there is no blame to be had. The fact of the matter is that the Patriots experienced a rebuilding year of sorts, which was compounded by injury and the incessant whining of quarterback Tom Brady - all of which contributed to a Patriots' passing attack that didn't scare anyone.

As mentioned in previous articles in this series, Belichick focused his attention on life after Brady and made his draft selections based on a shift in offensive philosophy to prepare for the transition from Brady to whomever is going to replace him at quarterback this season, which left Brady demoralized and showing up at post-game pressers looking like someone shit in his locker.

He obviously knew the score, which is why he signed that ridiculous contract that appeared to give him all the leverage going into this season, but in reality simply made him a very expensive placeholder for what Belichick had planned for life without him. He didn't like it, but his insistence on including a clause in the contract that prohibited the team from placing the franchise or transition tags on him this offseason left Belichick no choice but to think forward and just let the 2019 season play out.

Even so, the pass catching weapons that Brady had at his disposal would have been enough for the Patriots' offense to enjoy more success than it actually did, had injury wiped out so many intrigal pieces that McDaniels had to resort to trick plays to actually move the ball well enough to keep them in games.

After all, Belichick had drafted a big perimeter receiver in N'Keal Harry to go along with veteran garden gnomes Julian Edelman and Phillip Dorsett, then kept promising undrafted free agent Jakobi Meyers on the roster, along with Gunner Olsewski to return punts.

But Harry landed on the injured list, Edelman played through debilitating rib and shoulder injuries, leaving him a shell of his usual explosive self, while Olsewski turned out to be a wasted roster spot with only marginal success in the return game. To his credit, Belichick did try to upgrade his receiving corps by first bringing in Antonio Brown and, later, Mohamed Sanu.

But Brown turned out to be a perverted sociopath who lasted one game on the roster before his past caught up with him, and Sanu had such little impact on the group that he wasn't worth the 2020 second round pick that Belichick sent to Atlanta in trade for him.

Dorsett was woefully underused, as was Meyers, who lost Brady's trust by zigging when he should have been zagging in early games.

The result was the first time any of us had seen Brady so skittish that it affected his performance on the field, and it was powerful to witness. Many of his throws were off target as his trust in his receiving corps waned more and more with each contest and with each injury, and many times Brady ended up just heaving the ball out of bounds rather than risk trying to fit balls into a tight window.

Of course, the thin depth at the receiving positions - exacerbated by the retirement of tight end Rob Gronkowski and the loss of key blockers in the running game - meant that opposing defenses could focus on stopping the Patriots' excellent stable of running backs and took to blitzing Brady, daring him to beat them over the top which, of course, he wasn't willing to do.

Bottom line being, the Patriots' offense was a mess, and if it weren't for an insanely easy first-half schedule, they probably would not have made the playoffs.

But now, all of that is a distant nightmare. Brady is gone and took $13 million of the Patriots' salary cap with him in dead money. Dorsett left for Seattle in free agency, leaving only Harry, Sanu, Edelman and Meyers as the only pass catchers of note, and no clear direction in who will be throwing to them...

...buit whoever that ends up being, Belichick has tasked himself with the ominous task of building a receiving corps that lacks the speed to spread opposing defenses, which is key to opening up the short-to-intermediate routes which are a staple of any Belichickian philosophy.

The second rounder that Belichick gave up to bring in Sanu is just as hurtful to the team as the dead money that Brady's contract at up, as not having that second rounder to play with means that if the Patriots wanted to go after an elite receiver in the draft, they have very little draft capital to do so without putting themselves in an even worse position for the 2021 draft.

And Belichick needs that second round pick, as rounds two through four represent his wheelhouse for stocking his roster - so I'm assuming that he will trade out of the first round to get that second round pick back, and to add another selection in the third or fourth round.

Fortunately for him and the product on the field, the 2020 wide receiver class is incredibly deep with talented pass catchers, so he will be able to find excellent value on the second day of the draft, but don't expect him to spend anything higher than a third-round pick to stock his depth chart.

That leaves out names like Alabama's Henry Ruggs and Arizona State's Brandon Aiyuk, both of whom are projected first-rounders, and probably means that Penn State jitterbug KJ Hamler could be out of the picture as well...

...which is too bad, as Hamler is a pro-ready slot receiver that brings suddenness off the line, elite speed and excellent downfield vision - not to mention kick and punt return ability, which is something sorely lacking at press time.

What makes Hamler special is the suddenness off the line and his repertoire of moves to gain clean breaks into the pattern, with an innate ability to get into overdrive as quickly as any receiver coming out of college, which will make any opposing defensive coordinator think twice about pressing him at the line - and once the ball is in his hands, his vision and quick feet take over and, if he has a step on the defender, he's gone for a long-gainer.

At 5' 9" and only 175 pounds, Hamler's frame may take a year of working with professional strength and conditioning staff before he is anything more than a complimentary slot man, but the potential is certainly there in the long-range forecast.

So perhaps a better option would be Michigan's Donovan Peoples-Jones, who at 6' 1" and 210 pounds is a solid and legitimate threat from the slot, consistently proving that he can turn short throws into long gainers, either by slashing past or running through would-be tacklers. He's a little raw on perimeter routes, but professional coaching should bring his size and length into play. In the interim, he brings immediate help as one of the better downfield blockers in the draft class, and is also a seasoned punt returner.

Many mock drafts feature Baylor's 6' 3", 205 pound Denzel Mims to the Patriots, who has the deep speed, length and insane catch radius to be a legitimate field stretcher. The issue that Mims faces coming into the NFL is his limited experience in the route tree, as Baylor used him primarily as a deep decoy to pull safeties out play.

That's not a bad thing for New England, as they lost the only speed merchant on the team when Dorsett defected to Seattle - but his inexperience in the full route tree probably relegates him initially to the same decoy duties and an athletic red zone target, but his ceiling is very high.

Those two may be too much a project for Belichick to deal with, as he needs playmakers who already have experience with the full route combination - and if's he patient, there are two pass catchers that should be available on the third day of the draft that would fit right in with the tweaked offensive philosophy.

One is the son of former NFL Pro Bowl talent Shawn Jefferson. Florida's Van Jefferson

is one of two late round receivers that could make immediate contributions.

A precise and talented route runner, Jefferson was the quick-twitch to consistently gain separation off the line of scrimmage and has the wing span to haul in balls away from his body. So, why is he a late round projection? His deep speed is merely average and he possesses a wiry frame that could leave him broken against professional defenders.

Be that as it may, Jakobi Meyers and former-Patriots wideout Malcolm Mitchell both came out of college with almost exactly the same profile, and flourished when given a chance in the rookie seasons.

With Julian Edelman reaching middle-age as an NFL receiver and no potential backup to his unique skill set, SMU's 5' 11", 185 pound James Proche, who actually compares more favorably to former Patriot Danny Amendola but would have a perfect mentor in Edelman and could contribute right away.

Not fast but possessing quick feet, a full knowledge of the route tree and competitiveness to burn, Proche is tough out of the slot, with twitchy moves off the line and the ability to break in any direction of the compass with equal success.

It is fully possible that, like it is with the tight end position, the Patriots could spend multiple draft picks on wide receivers, or none at all - and while Belichick would have to be patient enough to bypass higher-projected athletes, the players who fit in as immediate contributors to the passing game are third day selections.

Some may argue that Belichick should use more valuable draft capital to upgrade his pass-catching corps, but when one considers that the Patriots have so many holes to fill elsewhere and already have a decent stable of receivers (when healthy), the smart move would be to go after precise route runners to man the slot and intermediate routes.

2020 NFL Draft: Deep Tight End Class Could Produce Multiple Selections For Patriots

Previously published on our sister blog, Mainely Patriots

11 April, 2020

Fairly or unfairly, New England Patriots' fans have certain expectations when it comes to the tight end position, and, sadly, there is very little chance that any tight end brought on to the roster would meet those expectations.

That's important to keep in mind as Patriots' head coach and defacto general manager Bill Belichick navigates both the free agent market and his draft board - because no one he ends up bringing in is going to satiate the void left when sure-fire Hall-of-Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski retired before the start of last season.

Certainly, the duo of Matt LaCosse and now-retired Ben Watson did little to make fans forget about Gronkowski, as LaCosse and Watson were mainly a pass catching tight ends, lending only token production in the pattern and almost nothing as inline blockers.

Both were productive in other places and Watson was a serviceable tight end for the Patriots before Gronkowski arrived, returning on a one-year deal from New Orleans as a little more than a placeholder until Belichick dealt for a younger version. Belichick even passed on a couple of young players coming out of college...

...settling instead to appease quarterback Tom Brady with a big wide receiver with the last pick in the first round when there were still some decent tight ends left on the board.

Would Brady have preferred a safety-valve type tight end instead of Arizona State's N'Keal Harry, who spent half of the season on the injured list? Certainly, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels would have preferred a combination tight end who was at least a red zone target and could double as an inline blocker for the running game.

But he also thought that he had the run blocking covered with fullbacks James Develin and rookie load Jakob Johnson, but he lost both very early in the season and, combined with no inline blocking tight ends on the roster, the running game took a nosedive.

So if last season did anything for Patriots' fans, it made them appreciative of the tight end position and how important it really is to the product on the field, and how badly their team is in need of a quality combination tight end.

That will have to come in the draft, as the Patriots' lack of cap space prohibited them from bidding on veteran tight ends in free agency - and fortunately for Belichick and Patriots' fans, the draft features a couple of college players that fit their needs.

Purdue's 6' 5", 240 pound Brycen Hopkins is a combination of a plus-sized receiver and a serviceable inline blocker, though his skill set speaks more to a "Move" style of tight end, with speed and strength to separate, battle and fight for yardage after the catch, and can do so on routes on all three levels.

Unlike traditional "move" tight ends, Hopkins' length and speed make him a vertical threat, with seam routes being where he earned his bones in college, breaking into his routes from the slot, primarily.

Hopkins is a projected late-first, early-second round prospect and while he probably will not last until the Patriots select in the second round, he would be a reach at number twenty-three overall in the first round, with New England needing to fill several holes on both sides of the ball, better prospects and athletes in other areas of need would become better value in that spot...

...and since I'm projecting that Belichick will trade out of the first round to acquire picks in the second and fourth rounds anyway, Hopkins gets lost in the numbers game - But this  draft is deep in tight ends with the skill set that Belichick is seeking - and as they all project as second and third day selections, there are three others that fall right into Belichick's wheelhouse.

Vanderbilt's 6' 4", 250 pound Jared Pinkney may not last to the third round, but would be an exceptional value if he did. While he doesn't possess a ton of speed, he is a fluid and graceful runner who can gain separation down the seam, and he catches everything thrown his way - but his best attribute is the physicality he brings to the position.

Pinkney won't run past or away from many defenders after the catch, but he will finish plays by punishing would-be tacklers, running through them rather than trying to dodge them. He's built like a bulldozer and is a willing inline blocker, using his size and strength to move defensive ends off their spot in the running game.

If Pinkney isn't still on the board early in the third round, Dayton's Adam Trautman should be.

At 6' 5" and 250 pounds, he has the tools to be a top-flight tight end, though he's a little raw, having arrived at Dayton as a quarterback and as a forward on their basketball team. He is a willing inline blocker, but his value is in his versatility, able to line up all over the offensive formation and running routes not typically traditional tight end routes.

He possesses solid hands and a lot of quickness and toughness and tracks the ball very well up the seam. Once he receives some professional coaching to refine his blocking skills, Trautman could be a solid addition and long-time starter for the Patriots.

While Trautman at the top of the third round is my overwhelming favorite for the combination tight end, one name that cannot be ignored in the later rounds is 22-year-old Thaddeus Moss.

Built like a linebacker at 6' 3" and 250 pounds, Moss's forte is run blocking, but was also a reliable short-to-intermediate safety valve in the passing game, his versatility translating to the H-back position as a lead blocker, much like a fullback would function in the Patriots' offense.

He's not a gazelle like his father, Randy, but does have the requisite speed, hands and tracking ability to handle seam routes. Namesake aside, Moss is an emerging talent with classic H-back skills, powerful blocking and with the ability to run the underneath and screen patterns as a safety valve. He needs some professional coaching, but his versatility, blood lines and commitment to the game means that he's the kind of athlete that Belichick loves to mentor.

The Patriots are in need of both an inline and a move tight end, so don't be surprised if Belichick spends two of his twelve overall picks on the tight end position.

2020 NFL Draft: With Brady Gone, Belichick Looks Toward Building Power-Based Offense

Previously published on our sister blog, Mainely Patriots

April 10, 2020

4:20am, Lewiston, Maine

The departure of Tom Brady means the end of an era for the New England Patriots - or does it?

Of course, it means the end of the Brady sub-era, but with head coach Bill Belichick still in control of the team, the Belichickian Era is still in play, and it is promising the most interesting offseason for the Patriots in the past two decades.

Interesting for no other reason than now with Brady out of the way, Belichick can finally build his team from the ground up, surrounding the bare-bones roster with meat of his choosing, with a chance to put to rest, once and for all, the argument of whether Belichick made Brady or if Brady made Belichick and, at the same time, run his offense according to how he's built it over the past three years.

With Brady under center, the Patriots' offense was at his whim. Sure, Belichick was in charge and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels called the plays, but the concept-based system in place that Brady was the master of, McDaniels may have had the control of the personnel groupings and the requisite corner of the playbook at his disposal, but each concept sent in had half-a-dozen route combinations and twice as many audibles available that only Brady had control of.

And those numbers are probably conservative, but it still illustrates that when Belichick's product was on the field, it was Brady and not him who controlled what resource Brady used - and for the aforementioned past three seasons, the resources were became increasingly incompatible to the offense that he had run for the previous decade-and-a-half.

It was purposeful on Belichick's part. He had to prepare the franchise for life after Brady, and he thought that was going to be three years ago, when the situation dictated that he trade the heir-in-waiting in Jimmy Garoppolo to San Francisco - for what amounted to a substantial loss in his investment...

...all because team owner Bob Kraft and his meddling ways stepped in and forbade Belichick to deal away the quarterback whom Kraft considered one of his kids. To further exacerbate the situation, the San Francisco 49ers had already rejected Belichick's offer to deal Brady, but expressed a tremendous amount of interest in Garoppolo.

But no matter what actually occurred, Belichick stayed his course and started building his roster to make as seamless as possible the transition from Brady to whomever would eventually take over at quarterback - and since he knew that it would be close to impossible to find another pro-ready replacement with a similar skill set, his focus was on building a power-based scheme that would mitigate so much responsibility on said replacement.

So when Brady bitched and bristled last season about his supporting cast, he had reached his last straw with Belichick. Brady wanted weapons to win another title with before he inevitably left, while Belichick was sticking to his plan.

And now that Brady is officially gone, what Belichick now has control over is an offensive depth chart built for power football - which, if he goes forward under the same philosophy, his roster will be much bigger or offense, and that will obviously translate to the product on the field.

Not that he - not I, for that matter - isn't appreciative of all the Brady has helped this franchise accomplish. For example, ever since Garoppolo was traded, my wife has been bitching at me to take down the Brady Fathead that I have on the wall of our living room - but it is still there, along with all of the other Patriots and Bruins memorabilia.

Brady will be remembered fondly, and will always wear the moniker of the Greatest of all Time in my heart - but he will not be missed. The time is now for Belichick to pick up the pieces of the roster and truly build the franchise in his own image - and since football teams are built from the inside out, that begins with the offensive line.

Since selecting right guard Shaq Mason five years ago, Belichick has been stocking his offensive line with powerful run blocking specialists, and now that he doesn't have to appease Brady, he can finally use them for what he intended the entire time.

In this scenario, the line is set in every position except for right tackle, where incumbent Marcus Cannon is on his last legs and ripe for demotion to swing tackle duties. The depth behind him is ill-equipped to step in and wrestle the starting job away - and with salary cap space eaten up by dead money from Brady's last contract, bringing in a replacement via free agency is a dead dream, so Belichick will have to focus on the upcoming draft to upgrade and solidify the position.

So important is the right tackle position in the power blocking scheme that it wouldn't be surprising to see Belichick use his lone first-day selection to draft an upgrade, though he would probably have to trade up to the top-15 in the first round to snag the best right tackle in the draft.

The problem is that with no second-round pick to offer as incentive to other teams that select ahead of him, Belichick would be hard-pressed to find enough ammo to exchange with them to secure Louisville's 6' 7", 360 pound Mekhi Becton without mortgaging their future.

Becton would be worth the price to be paid, as despite being so large, he is still as nimble in pass protection as he is powerful in the running game. In pass protection, his wingspan makes it difficult for edge rushers to get around and bull rushers will find it nearly impossible to move him off his base - But his forte is run blocking, where he simply wipes out defenders and plows the row for runners.

He does need some instruction in regard to working in space on the second level, but the man is a difference-maker as a right tackle and could very well change the entire culture of the offensive line.

As good as Becton projects to be, Belichick just doesn't have the draft capital to make a trade-up without dealing away future draft picks, so he would be wise to trade his own first-round draft pick to move down into the second round, then use one of his three third-round selections to go after TCU's 6' 6", 330 pound Lucas Niang.

Powerful hands and violent intent are the hallmarks of Niang, who comes from the same program that produced Cannon a decade ago. Like Cannon, his specialty is run blocking, but he comes to the NFL with a more defined pass blocking package than Cannon possesses. His handwork is elite in both phases, but speed-to-power pass rushers will occasionally gain the edge of him in pass protection, as he relies more on strength and length to swallow up one-dimensional rushers.

That would have been an occasional problem with the stationary target Brady still under center, but becomes less so with a more mobile quarterback, second-year signal caller Jarrett Stidham being the odds-on starter at press time - though that could change drastically, especially if Belichick did indeed trade down and use his second rounder on one of the many quality quarterbacks coming out of college.

Either way, a mobile quarterback would precipitate the selection of Niang. In the running game, he is a pancake maker with the ability to climb the ladder and erase linebackers - A tremendous value if he's still available in the third round, as predicted.

Whichever route Belichick takes to select a right tackle, upgrading the position is a priority, and either Becton or Niang would join left tackle Isaiah Wynn, left guard Dan Thuney, center David Andrews and the aforementioned Mason to form a powerful run-blocking line that is also capable of protecting a more mobile quarterback.

Patriots Enter New League Year Crippled By Cap-Stressed Exodus

Previously published on out sister blog, Mainely Patriots

23 March 2020

2:47am, Lewiston Maine

A heavy drizzle and sporadic fog blankets the ghost town tonight, gloom on top of gloom as the world deals with a naturally-occurring biological attack and the residents have all but hunkered down for what might be a lot longer than the two weeks that the talking heads initially preached.

I just got back from a drive in the weather, a brief but needed respite in the middle of bad craziness. Other than a small crowd gathered in a vacant lot on the corner of Bartlett and Walnut, who appeared to be drinking heavily and doing that vampire dance from The Lost Boys, the streets were bare...

...except for a few persistent, desperate-looking hookers who are discovering the hard way that there's not much job security in times like these when people know that sex could lead to death.

It's a life-altering event for every soul on the planet, and everything has changed. Everything, that is, except the well-meaning loons that run the National Football League, whose decision to open their free agency period as scheduled has proven to be a powerful respite from the nasty little bugs floating around right outside my window. Business as usual, says the league, and all while observing the social distancing mandate from the CDC.

Of course, the fact that New England's favorite son has defected for the warm climes of Florida has many football fans in the region feeling like they've been kicked in the gut while they were already down - but Tom Brady's departure and the media attention it's getting is masking the real story, that being their defense is being stripped down to bare bones, with only the essential core players remaining.

NFL Network rubs it in by showing every single Super Bowl appearance by Brady in their entirety, all while scrolling his name constantly across the bottom of the screen. It's nothing personal. Just the biggest news story during a period when it is needed most, even if the distraction is for a few seconds of anger, it's worth it. It was inevitable, Brady leaving. In fact, in my estimation, it came three years too late.

But that is for another time, very soon, but not now because it doesn't matter anymore. With Brady hogging the headlines, the story of how head coach Bill Belichick is going to have to build his 2020 incarnation of the Patriots has been overlooked. The roster has been stripped of so many core players that the offseason philosophy has been reduced to that of what almost all other teams have endured during the past two decades.

Because during that span, the Patriots haven't had to make wholesale personnel moves in so many different positions as they are faced with this season, what with both of their Pro Bowl quality outside linebackers and their Big Nickel safety gone to other teams.

In fact, the Patriots have lost so many impact players in the initial phases of free agency that it reminds me of a quote by the late, great Hunter S. Thompson, who once documented a trip to a doctor years back about excessive sweating, but when he told the doctor about his normal intake of illicit drugs and alcohol, the doctor responded by telling Thompson that they would wait for him to break down, then work with what was left.

That's what Belichick is faced with: Working with what's left and trying to add some pieces to at least be competitive - and maybe that's what Belichick really wanted to do in the first place. Maybe he wants to get away from the eternal chatter about how his success was not only tied to the head start he inherited from previous Patriots' coaches, but also the questions surrounding whether that success was tied in large part to Brady.

But it's not good enough to just go forward with a new quarterback surrounded by the same supporting cast, Belichick wants to build his team from the ground up. If he is successful and the Patriots somehow make the playoffs, maybe that would add to his already cemented in stone legacy.

Is that important? You bet, considering that, with six Super Bowl titles under their belts making him them winningest head coach and quarterback combination in football history, each has an opportunity to break away from the generation-old question as to whether the Patriots' dynasty was the result of Belichick's coaching or Brady's play. Really, it's a combination of both, but now that Brady is with another team with a chance to make that argument go in his favor.

It's a dumb argument, but when gearing down to the end of two certain Hall-of-Fame careers, neither man want's the question to go unanswered.

Brady will have the easier route to success, going to a Tampa Bay team that is loaded on offense and with an improving defense, while Belichick has to build off a core roster that is the most aged in the league and has lost several key players.

That is not a recipe for success, at least not short-term, but defying the odds with innovative game plans is exactly what Belichick does, and exactly the challenge he wants. Brady wanted elite weapons to throw to, and that's exactly what Tampa provides him.

There are some that felt like Belichick was limiting Brady last season by surrounding him with rookies and cast-offs, and maybe he was. He certainly did very little to replace retired tight end Rob Gronkowski, while letting proven talent at receiver leave in free agency. He did bring in Antonio Brown to catch passes from Brady, but the troubled Brown lasted only two weeks in Foxborough before being released.

Still, Brady was certainly good enough to win with the cast that he had, but injuries along the offensive line doomed the offense. That wasn't Belichick's doing, but it made Brady look ordinary and even below par - and it didn't help that Brady bitched and bristled about the anemic offense and essentially shut down the passing game by hesitating to throw to the aforementioned rookies and cast-offs.

So Brady whined and Belichick became even more tight-lipped than ever, and all the while team owner Bob Kraft, already hiding from the media due to being implicated in a massage parlor sting, said nothing. Certainly there were private conversations between all parties and all had plenty to say - but we'll never know the level of animosity.

In the interim, fans and media around the country are looking for someone to blame for Brady packing up and leaving Foxborough.

Some blame Belichick for not appeasing Brady with weapons. Some blame Brady for his publicly negative attitude and dour expressions. But the real culprit is Kraft, who considers Brady as one of his kids, and refused to allow Belichick to trade Brady three years ago and keep the one-time heir apparent, Jimmy Garoppolo.

Had Belichick been allowed to deal Brady to San Francisco instead of Garoppolo, it goes to figure that Brady would have garnered at least a first round draft pick, and the Patriots would be rolling forward with no questions about the quarterback position and with a roster that played to his strengths.

Some would argue that the Patriots wouldn't have their sixth Super Bowl title in that scenario - which is the goal, after all - but who's to say that Garoppolo wouldn't have been able to pull that off?

We'll never know, but what we know now is that the Patriots have to move forward without either, leaving second-year, seldom-played Jarrett Stidham as the quarterback and, due to Belichick's desperate wheeling and dealing last season to provide Brady with targets he would actually throw to, a significantly reduced stock of draft picks...

...not to mention (though I will), that Brady's defection carries a $13.5 million dead money hit on the Patriots' salary cap - not crippling, but almost.  The result has been a mass exodus of core players in free agency, as the Patriots just cannot afford to offer them the contracts that other teams can, and have.

The only way that Belichick could respond to this significant handicap was to start dealing players to other teams, sending Big Nickel safety Duron Harmon to Detroit for a mid-round draft pick, and there is probably more players on the way out in the same manner.

That process is still in it's infancy, and it will interesting to see how it turns out. But one thing is for sure: The Patriots will look much different this season.