Former Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon, traded to the Atlanta Falcons

Patriots quarterback Jacoby Brissett

With the start of the 2024 National Football League regular season just a few weeks away, some New England Patriots fans are uneasy about their team’s prospects for a successful season. New Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo faces the daunting task of building a winning team while the ownership continues to unload talented players by refusing to pay what other clubs would offer for a comparable athlete.

One example is the recent trade of edge pass rusher Matthew Judon to the Atlanta Falcons for a third-round draft pick. The stalwart defensive specialist wanted to work out a new contract ending this year. His 12.5 sacks in 2021 earned him Pro Bowl status, and he followed that with a 15.5 sacks season in 2022.

Judon’s torn bicep injury forced him to sit out all last season. According to him, he never met with any of the front office personnel. “I feel like [they] just never sat down and really came to the table with me,” Judon said to Kayla Burton of NBC Sports Boston. “So I think that’s the biggest point. It’s like, they kind of didn’t know where I was at. We kind of didn’t know where they were at.”

The Falcons are happy they signed Judon since they haven’t had a player who recorded double-digit sacks since 2016.

Patriots’ frugality

In recent years, the Patriots franchise, with a history of frugality in signing players, has told you that it is fiscally prudent. Robert Kraft addressed these issues while in Vegas earlier this year. He said, “I know there’s a perception that we have held back on spending. Let me just say, for our fans: That’s just not true. ... If cash spending became an issue for our family, and we couldn’t do it, then I would sell the team.”

Even during the glamorous Tom Brady era, New England “squeezed the dollar” when it came time to paying talented players, even Tom Brady. For years, Brady found a way to get it done. He and head coach Bill Belichick formed a partnership that produced six Super Bowl titles, despite what management describes as “responsible frugality.”

Being part of the “Patriot Way” produced big wins, but not necessarily big paychecks.

After the 2024 NFL draft, the New England Patriots have the second-most cap space of the 32 NFL teams, behind the San Francisco 49ers.

The team ranked second from the bottom in offseason spending in 2020, their first post-Tom Brady year. The Patriots spent heavily the following year, setting an NFL record. In 2023, they were 25th and have been near the bottom for the last 10, according to an ESPN report.

An early assessment of the 2024 New England Patriots shows that most football analysts have placed their win total to four games. It is hard to say where they will be after their one-win two-loss preseason record, which includes a 20-13 loss to the Washington Commanders in their final preseason contest.

The biggest problem with this team going into game one of the regular season against the high-powered Cincinnati Bengals has been the poor play of its offensive line. Quarterback Jacoby Brissett suffered a shoulder injury due to a missed blocking assignment, forcing rookie quarterback Drake Maye, who was the third pick in this year’s NFL player draft, into action. Maye turned in a solid performance, 13-20 for 126 yards and one touchdown, which included an 88-yard, 13-play drive for a score, while under constant pass pressure.

Throughout the preseason, first-year coach Jerod Mayo expressed significant dissatisfaction with his offensive line of left tackle Vederian Lowe, left guard Sidy Sow, center Dave Andrews, right guard Mike Onwenu and right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor. He has been contemplating a shake-up of the unit. That seems inevitable after watching his team commit eight offensive line penalties in the first half of the loss to Washington.

Due to the injury status of Jacoby Brissett, the team may be forced to start Drake Maye against the Bengals, a Super Bowl-contending team with a good defense that puts heat in the form a major pass rush on opposing quarterbacks. And unless the Patriots find solutions to their ongoing offensive line problems before their September 8th opening game engagement with the Bengals in Cincinnati, Maye, Brissett, and any of the team’s other quarterbacks will find themselves in deep trouble, especially when attempting to pass the football.

The defense, minus Matthew Judon’s presence, will use what Coach Mayo labels “schemes” to be competitive. “That is how we competed for years under Bill Belichick when we didn’t have elite pass rushers,” he said.

Note to Coach Mayo: Many schemes that worked under Belichick involved men like you, who played your guts out at that time. Let’s see if that can happen again under your tutelage.

Will the team spend the money required to put this franchise on par with the top squads in the NFL? Teams like the two-time defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs, the Dallas Cowboys, and other playoff-contending teams spend money to stay competitive. At the same time, will the Patriots put a low-budget product before their loyal fans and expect them to keep shelling out their money to support it?

Coach Mayo will pay the inevitable price if this 2024 squad continues its downward slide to mediocrity. One would think that Patriots fans would be calling for the team to open their piggy bank, particularly following the past couple of losing seasons. But for now, they remain loyal. The Pats first five games at Cincinnati, Seattle (home), New York Jets (away), San Francisco 49ers (away), and Miami Dolphins (home) will be an accurate barometer of what to expect from this team this season.

This current edition of the Patriots has some growing to do, and maybe some of that cap money ($50,859,474) can help.