{"numbering":"asc","slides":[{"index":1,"title":"1. Tight End","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/usatsi_11816937.jpg","caption":"

It was a position of need before the best tight end of this (or any) generation retired. The Patriots offense is at its best when the positions of slot receiver, tight end and pass-catching back are populated by potent players. Take one out, the other two take heat they may not be able to absorb (see the first four games of 2018 for evidence). In 2016, the Patriots at least had Martellus Bennett to turn to. Anything less (like Scott Chandler in 2015 who couldn’t’ get it done when Gronk was hurt) isn’t enough.

The Patriots were in a similar spot a decade ago. In 2008 and 2009 COMBINED they got 74 catches for 848 yards and nine touchdowns from their tight ends. All of them. It made the team over-reliant on Wes Welker and Randy Moss and they made a sea change in the 2010 draft bringing in Gronk and Aaron Hernandez. They, in turn, got 262 catches, 3,398 yards and 42 touchdowns from the position in the next two years and jump-started their rebuild thanks to that position.

A mess of decent ones have come into the league the past two years. Draft two this year.

"},{"index":3,"title":"2. Wide Receiver","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/tom_brady_julian_edelman_0.jpg","caption":"

Since SB52 ended, the Patriots have said goodbye or hello/goodbye to Brandin Cooks, Danny Amendola, Malcolm Mitchell, Josh Gordon, Cordarrelle Patterson, Chris Hogan, Eric Decker, Kenny Britt, Jordan Matthews and… I gotta be missing somebody… but the only guys they’ve brought in are Braxton Berrios, Maurice Harris and Bruce Ellington. Julian Edelman and Phillip Dorsett are the holdovers.

We’ve detailed their predicament and possible remedies before. And there’s always the draft, though the Patriots haven’t had barely any success finding plug-and-play wideouts for a variety of reasons we’ve hammered over the years. But the cupboard is bare. Forty-one-year-old Tom Brady had to listen to a season’s worth of “he’s too old” allegations because the team didn’t find him top-tier wideout talent and the offense struggled. We’re headed down that road again.

"},{"index":5,"title":"3. Brady Redo","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/usatsi_12110824_133468180_lowres.jpg","caption":"

He’s got a $27M cap hit and a $14M salary. The salary is 18th-highest among quarterbacks just behind Andy Dalton. Dalton didn’t play as well as Brady last year. Anyway, it’s something ownership dismisses with a wave of the hand but an issue I highly, HIGHLY doubt that Brady is as unperturbed by.

Until it’s done it isn’t done. And until I’m told it’s done and that Brady is signed through his 43rd and 44th birthdays, I’ll still have a kernel of doubt that Bill Belichick can suspend his career-long practice of going younger and cheaper whenever he can. The longer it goes, the greater the potential for agita, especially if the draft comes and goes with not much done to surround Brady with NFL-ready talent.

"},{"index":7,"title":"4. Safety","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/new-england-patriots-patrick-chung-broken-arm-super-bowl-53.jpg","caption":"

They need a new Chung (please read that line to the tune of Huey Lewis’ breakthrough single). The Patriots are getting old across the back line of their defense. Patrick Chung came into the league in ’09 and is convalescing from a broken arm suffered in the Super Bowl. Devin McCourty came in a year later. Duron Harmon joined in 2012. Even in that period of time, the position’s morphed.

Praise be that Chung is — at 5-9, 205-pounds — a player who can play in the slot, in the box and against tight ends because there just aren’t a lot of players with his combo of versatility, toughness and selflessness left in the NFL. It’s past time to start looking for something who approximates what he’s done. And the same is true for the free safety spot McCourty plays.

"},{"index":9,"title":"5. Defensive End","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/michael_bennett_eagles.jpg","caption":"

Michael Bennett in for Trey Flowers. It works. At least on paper. Bennett may not be what he was but Flowers isn’t what Bennett was either. They are probably passing each other right about now on the arc of incline/decline. Regardless, that still leaves the other defensive end kind of vacant.

Adrian Clayborn did a C-minus job last year and has been released. Derek Rivers is entering his third season. A third-round pick in 2017, he’s got six tackles. Deatrich Wise, taken a round later in 2017, has 15 tackles. If the plan is to let those two man the spot, I get it. There is talent there, especially with Wise. But it’s not a pairing that’s going to panic defensive coordinators.

"},{"index":11,"title":"6. Left Tackle","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/cp-patriots-isaiah-wynn-081718.jpg","caption":"

The 49ers gave the Patriots a sweetheart of a deal last year, shipping Trent Brown out here during the draft. He came, he blocked, he left to become a rich man.

Now, if Isaiah Wynn’s Achilles is suitably healed by the start of the season, he can follow the Matt Light-Nate Solder plan and lock it down for a decade. But the Patriots, having lost La’Adrian Waddle, still need a veteran in case either A) Wynn’s not ready or B) he is ready but needs backup. This is far less pressing than the other spots but still needs addressing.

"},{"index":13,"title":"7. Running Back","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/usatsi_12031832_133468180_lowres.jpg","caption":"

Sony Michel came into the NFL with battered knees. The odds of him playing for a long time aren’t great. The Patriots rode him for 280 carries in 16 games (including playoffs). His high at Georgia? 218 carries. In his junior and senior seasons, he carried 308 times combined. So Michel’s rookie year was both brilliant (1,267 yards and 13 TDs) and cause for pause. Get him some help that’s more durable than Rex Burkhead.

"},{"index":15,"title":"8. Backup Quarterback","image":"https://www.nbcsports.com/sites/rsnunited/files/archive/assets_media_gallery/boston/2019/04/03/new-england-patriots-brian-hoyer-tom-brady-80318.jpg","caption":"

The longer it takes Tom Brady to get rid of the ball, the higher the degree of punishment he’ll have to absorb. The worse his skill-position players are, the longer it takes them to uncover. It’s all connected. Brady made it through 2018 without getting roped in large part because of the emergence of Michel and a viable running game. But there were still occasions (at Tennessee and at Pittsburgh) where Brady took more whacks than he should be taking. And if he’d been slow to recover from any of those hits, there would have been no duck boat parade.

Brian Hoyer is a great resource. But watching him in preseason last year, there were times it looked like he was borderline skittish. He’s a slight guy and he’s almost 34. It’s understandable. But it’s time to bring in somebody who has a shot at stepping in and winning a game or two. Hoyer probably isn’t that. And Danny Etling, a rookie last year, is probably going to track the same.

"}]}

Patriots offseason priorities, ranked in order of importance