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The Patriots are offseason champs for once
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The Patriots are offseason champs for once

Typically a pejorative used to mock the desperate efforts of mismanaged franchises to leapfrog into title contention, the term “offseason champion” is seldom applied to the New England Patriots. Yet here we are in 2017, and the Patriots are being hailed for a monster of an offseason.

Sure, the Pats generally aren’t quite as dormant as teams like the Packers and Steelers are during the offseason, but their reputation is not one of freewheeling transactions in free agency. Yet here they are in 2017 making arguably the biggest moves of any team in the league. They signed cornerback Stephon Gilmore. They traded for receiver Brandin Cooks and tight end Dwayne Allen. They added a complementary running back in Rex Burkhead. And with Malcolm Butler and Jimmy Garoppolo as potential trade bargaining chips, the haul could only get that much sweeter.

It harkens back to the Pats’ 2007 offseason, when they traded for Randy Moss and Wes Welker, and signed Adalius Thomas and Donte Stallworth. New England was already a good team back then, and it required a huge comeback from the Colts to beat the Pats in the AFC Championship the previous season. This set of acquisitions elevated them to the next level, touching off their 18-1 season. They might not have won the Super Bowl, but it’s hard to argue that they weren’t one of the best teams of the decade. Thomas ended up being kind of a bust for the Pats, but he was a big-ticket free agent when they brought him in. The Pats knew it was a time to strike, and they did.

New England is obviously doing better now than it was coming off the 2006 season. The Patriots are the reigning champs, and yet somehow they only seemed to have improved. They upgraded at receiver and made lateral moves at tight end and cornerback. Losing Dont’a Hightower would have been the only real negative, but after meeting with a few teams, he opted to return, sparing New England from having to fill a key hole on what was a solid defense on a championship team.

Hightower was told by the Steelers on Tuesday that if the linebacker left town following their meeting, the deal would be off the table. Pittsburgh, according to a report, did not want to be used by Hightower as leverage in negotiations with the Patriots. The Jets were courting Hightower aggressively but apparently not enough. The drama with the Steelers is telling, however. Pittsburgh’s insecurity likely stems from its time with running back LeGarrette Blount, whom the Steelers signed away from New England in 2014 only for the back to quit on them midseason and immediately go back to the Patriots once released. It was like the Steelers got played, and they are certainly sensitive to it happening again, especially if it’s the franchise that basically owns them over the last 15 or so years. This is one of the teams that’s supposed to be the Pats’ main competition in the conference, and they’re shook.

The Saints are on the verge of dealing for Butler, who is a restricted free agent. The Pats may not end up recouping the first-rounder they gave up for Cooks, but they might end up getting a second, which is where Bill Belichick typically trades down into during the draft anyway. 

As for Garoppolo, while the Patriots claim they have no interest in dealing him, though they could receive a bounty, they will have to make a decision about the quarterback soon. Assuming the Pats don’t sign him to an extension by then, Garoppolo becomes a free agent in 2018. Tom Brady will be 40 years old by then, but unless there’s a pronounced drop-off in his ability, he’s still going to be the presumed starter. Do the Pats finally put an expiration date on Brady, or do they finally have to let Garoppolo go, since they don’t know when they can promise him the starting job?

That’s the biggest uneasiness in New England, and it’s a matter that doesn’t even get serious for another year. Nice circumstances to find yourself as a franchise. Sure, the end of the Belichick/Brady era looms somewhere in the middle distance, but it seems like the Pats might even add another trophy or two before all is said and done.

When all is said and done for this Patriots dynasty, and insipid discussions about the Patriot Way — or whatever you want to call it — harden into legend, we have to remember this was an organization that occasionally got aggressive about reordering its roster. The building through the draft orthodoxy only gets teams so far. The Pats weren’t always perfect when wheeling and dealing (nor were they without notable busts in the draft), but they weren’t afraid of making dramatic moves. That’s a tactic other organizations get shamed for, but their only crime was not doing right.

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