Kelley: Six Things for Patriots Fans to Feel Good About in 2024

The New England Patriots finished with a 4-13 record in 2023, the franchise’s worst record since 1992. This year’s edition is on pace to finish even worse. New England stands 1-6 after seven games. Their active six-game losing streak is the longest for a Patriots squad in 31 years. And unlike last season, when the team’s defense excelled, this year’s issues are everywhere.

Eliot Wolf, Jerod Mayo, and the new regime running things in Foxboro have yet to garner the confidence of Patriots Nation. Robert Kraft, an owner who kept the Patriots in New England and oversaw a historic run of success, has witnessed his popularity plummet with Patriots fans following his firing of Bill Belichick. This is true even within a large segment of people who believed it was time to move on from Belichick. Those running the show these days have been described as everything from insincere to incompetent.

The absence of key players has not helped matters. New England traded Matthew Judon to Atlanta. Christian Barmore remains inactive following his preseason blood clot diagnosis. Team captains David Andrews and Ja’Whaun Bentley have suffered season-ending injuries. Chukwuma Okorafor left the team after one game. Jabrill Peppers sits on the commissioner’s exempt list, unable to play following his arrest on multiple serious charges. Barmore and Javon Baker have also had public, though less serious, run-ins with police this season.

Also Read – Seven Patriots Advance in Pro Football Hall of Fame Voting

Fortunately, being negative is not in my nature. That can be unavoidable in my job, where providing honest assessments of situations is a mandatory component of doing the job well. For anyone to pretend there is not a surplus of things to feel negative about in Foxboro this season is ingenuous at best. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few silver linings in New England, even if people need to dig a little deeper to find them in 2024.

Here are ten things for New England Patriots fans to feel good about.

1 – Drake Maye

Maye ranked first overall on my 2024 NFL Draft board. While I rated WR Marvin Harrison Jr., TE Brock Bowers, and OT Joe Alt as generational prospects for their positions, no position is more important to fill than a franchise quarterback. It is not every year that a team has an opportunity to add a blue-chip quarterback prospect to their roster, and New England did that in April.

Only four rookie quarterbacks in NFL history have thrown for 500 yards and five touchdowns in their first two starts. Drake Maye is one of them. Maye has shown tremendous playmaking ability on the field. Maye displays maturity and leadership qualities when dealing with the media as well, a trait lacking from many others this season.

Drake Maye’s career is not guaranteed to include Super Bowl victories and a Hall of Fame induction. However, he provides the New England Patriots with something not easily found in Foxboro these days: Hope.

2 – Freedom to Evaluate the Roster in 2024

Now that hopes of being a surprise contender this season have all evaporated for even the most optimistic fans, 2024 can be used to evaluate what the Patriots have and what they need. The needs coming into 2024 were not well addressed based on early returns. The team knew going into the offseason they needed help at quarterback, on the offensive line, and at wide receiver. Their pass rush also needed a boost, especially since they chose to part ways with Matthew Judon. Aside from quarterback, the early returns elsewhere have not been promising.

The Patriots can and should play to win every game this season. However, they should be doing so while trying to see who fits into their plans for 2025 and beyond. Take wide receiver, for example. No claims are being made that the Patriots have an elite wide receivers room. The group has lacked production this season, and there are several seemingly unhappy campers. Those are not positives. But now that Drake Maye has taken over as the team’s starting quarterback let’s see which receivers he builds a rapport with.

Tyquan Thornton (2025), Kendrick Bourne (2026), DeMario Douglas (2026), Kayshon Boutte (2026), Ja’Lynn Polk (2027), and Javon Baker (2027) all have contracts keeping them under team control beyond this season. The Patriots don’t need all six to become star players for them. They need a couple to prove themselves as dependable players worthy of consistent playing time and the team’s trust. New England can add pieces to whatever group emerges via free agency, trade, or the draft.

The Patriots have a pair of foundational pieces in Drake Maye and cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Who else will join them in that group?

3 – Freedom to Evaluate the Coaching Staff in 2024

Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo are unlikely to get fired after one season. However, there could be some changes in the coaching staff. Can Alex Van Pelt and DeMarcus Covington prove themselves worthy of a second season as a coordinator in New England? For Van Pelt, that likely depends on his relationship with Drake Maye and the rookie’s development throughout the season.

In the case of Covington, moving on from him after one season feels unlikely, especially given the absences on the Patriots’ defense. However, how they perform the rest of the year could determine whether New England opts to bring in a veteran defensive coach to help on that side of the ball. Mayo appears to be doing a lot of delegating to his coordinators at this point to avoid micromanaging. However, if the defense doesn’t improve, either the head coach needs to get more involved with the defense, or they need to bring in another veteran assistant who will.

4 – Improved Special Teams

The New England Patriots special teams units were a strength of the team throughout the dynasty years. That changed for the worse over the past few seasons. Cam Achord’s units consistently underperformed over the past several seasons, despite a handful of spectacular plays. This year’s unit under Jeremy Springer has been the opposite. Although they’ve had a few errors, including a 98-yard punt return touchdown allowed to Jacksonville, the overall performance has been excellent.

If Pro Bowl teams were announced today, punter Bryce Baringer, long snapper Joe Cardona, and special teams ace Brenden Schooler would all have excellent arguments to be the AFC representative. Christian Elliss has been a standout on the unit as well. The kicking game has vastly improved with Joey Slye handling placekicking duties this season. And Marcus Jones remains a dangerous return man for New England.

Joey Slye drills a 63-yard field goal!

📺: #NEvsSF on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/kPt0QKfAon

— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2024

Many Patriots fans would prefer an outstanding offensive or defense, but excellent special teams play is at least one thing going for them this season.

5 – The 2025 NFL Draft

New England will be picking high in the 2025 NFL Draft. Based on my early scouting, they should have a chance to add a talented wide receiver, a solid offensive tackle, or a premier edge rusher. If they near the top of the draft, as they did a year ago, a trade-down to address multiple needs makes the most sense. There are always teams willing to trade up to draft quarterbacks. This is not a need for the Patriots in 2025 and they should try to take advantage of the desperation of others.

The early returns on the 2024 draft class for New England have not been promising. Only Maye has looked good so far of their eight draft picks. But it’s important to remember these are rookies. Nobody should be throwing in the towel on any of these players yet. That said, it would be nice to see some production from the players healthy enough to keep playing this season (Javon Baker, Jaheim Bell, etc). It would certainly give Patriots fans more confidence in Eliot Wolf’s skills heading into April’s draft.

6 – Salary Cap Space

Having money to spend was not an issue for New England last offseason. But whatever money the team did spend was largely used to retain or extend their players. There was not an influx of outside talent as Jerod Mayo had folks believing there would be. This did not go over well with the fanbase. The franchise, seemingly more aware of public perception by the day, will not allow this to happen again in 2025.

One bonus is that the team does not have as many key free agents to worry about retaining. Extensions were given out to many of the key players who would have hit free agency in 2025. So the types of deals that went to Mike Onwenu, Kyle Dugger, Hunter Henry, and Kendrick Bourne in 2024, can be used to bring in outside help in 2025. This should happen, and I believe it will. There will be plenty of salary cap space, and this should be the offseason to “burn some cash.”

There has not been a lot to feel great about for the New England Patriots this season. But there is still plenty to maintain interest throughout the rest of the year. Which players will mesh with Drake Maye, who will prove indispensable, and which players will depart before the trade deadline? The team will return next season with a better sense of who they are, hopefully with the return of core players missing at the moment and with an influx of outside talent from the draft, free agency, and possible trades. The present probably feels dim to many, but there is still some light, and hopefully it begins to burn brighter.