Patriots News
Patriots given substandard defensive ranking heading into 2025

The legacy of the New England Patriots wasn’t just an All-World quarterback. It told of a team that was consistently dominant defensively. That dominance has faded, to put it mildly, and the arrow is pointed in the opposite direction.
Heading into 2025 NFL free agency — set to begin at 4 p.m. ET March 12 — the Patriots have their work cut out for them. That isn’t anything they weren’t aware of, as evidenced by the $100 million in cap space the team has at its disposal. But while needs exist on both sides of the ball, their defense doesn’t exactly have a budding superstar the likes of Drake Maye.
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All of this has been noticed around the league and within the media. Matt Johnson of Sportsnaut recently ranked all NFL defenses, 32 through 1, before Super Bowl LIX and ahead of free agency. He put the Patriots 29th, a spot befitting of how they ended their season.
“Injuries and suspensions – Christian Barmore, Marcus Jones, Ja’Qhaun Bentley and Jabrill Peppers – played a part, but this just wasn’t a well-coached defense,” Johnson wrote. “New England has a promising No. 1 cornerback in Christian Gonzalez, but the Patriots have to find pass-rushing help after finishing bottom-five in pressure rate and a No. 2 cornerback is desperately needed, too.”
The presence and development of Gonzalez aside, the Patriots lack playmaking and toughness, and will likely be spending millions of dollars and using high-value draft capital to add to the defensive side of the ball. The team already changed head coaches, at least partially the result of a defense that took a nose dive over the second half of the year. New front man Mike Vrabel can clearly see the deficiencies among their current personnel. and he’s got a long way to go before enjoying the opportunity of fixing those deficiencies.