The New England Patriots have plenty of work to do this offseason.
While there were plenty of positives to take from last year's 10-7 campaign -- namely quarterback Mac Jones reaching the playoffs in his first NFL season -- anyone who saw the Patriots' 47-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Wild Card Round knows there's room for serious improvement.
But where does New England need to improve the most? During Wednesday's edition of Boston Sports Tonight, we posed that question to co-hosts Michael Felger and Michael Holley as well as the Boston Sports Journal's Greg Bedard. Their answers varied widely, providing a sense of how difficult it might be for Belichick and his staff to prioritize their offseason plans.
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Here's a rundown of where each analyst stands. You can check out the full discussion in the YouTube video at the end of the article.
Greg Bedard
New England Patriots
The Patriots hired Joe Judge as an offensive assistant and reportedly may consider giving Matt Patricia some offensive responsibilities. But if you ask Bedard, Belichick needs to find a legitimate replacement for departed offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels -- Bill O'Brien or Adam Gase, perhaps? -- first and foremost.
Bedard believes the staffing side is more important than the personnel side of finding a quality wide receiver for Jones. "Slot receiver" is third on his list behind "top man corner(back)," which certainly will be a need if J.C. Jackson departs in free agency.
Michael Holley
Unlike Bedard, Holley believes finding a "home-run hitter" on both offense and defense is more important than addressing the coaching situation.
The Patriots certainly could use a big-play wide receiver after free-agent signing Nelson Agholor (37 catches for 473 yards and three touchdowns) failed to fit that bill in 2021. They also need a game-changer on defense -- especially at the linebacker position, where New England's lack of speed was exposed in that playoff loss to the Bills.
Our Phil Perry brought up a few potential "home-run hitter" types in his latest Patriots Mailbag and has the Pats taking a Deebo Samuel-type wide receiver in his new 2022 NFL Mock Draft.
Michael Felger
Felger seems to agree with Holley that New England needs to get faster on both sides of the ball. He likes the idea of targeting a quick slot receiver -- in the mold of Julian Edelman, perhaps -- who can become Jones' go-to target.
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Felger also joins Bedard and Holley in emphasizing the importance of finding a good coaching fit for the offense. But his fifth need for the Patriots is ... quarterback? After Jones just completed arguably the best rookie campaign in team history and looks like a franchise QB?
Watch the full segment below to hear Felger explain himself.