Most people who watch football games follow the ball. It’s hard not to, especially when you’re watching on TV. The cameras are trained to follow that oddly shaped pigskin (Wikipedia calls it a prolate spheroid. I knew that…). It’s a little different when you watch in person or go back and rewatch on the All-22. Why did this play work? Why didn’t it? When I’m watching the offense, I start with the line play. And too often in the postseason, the Patriots’ offensive line was inconsistent at best, a weak link at worst. That got lost at times this season because the team won 16 of 17, Drake Maye was playing like an MVP, and, quite frankly, some didn’t want to hear/read the negative. Are we past that now?
The Pats have money to spend – assuming ownership is willing to at least dip their toes into free agency if not fully submerge as they did a year ago. And there are players who can help, or in one case in particular, be transformative if they want to write a big check. We’ll save the tackle spot for another day and instead focus on the interior offensive line.
UNDER CONTRACT: Mike Onwenu, Jared Wilson, Garrett Bradbury, Ben Brown, Caedan Wallace, Andrew Rupcich, Mehki Butler
Could you make the case to bring the top four back? Sure. Should they? See above. At the very least, there needs to be real competition, whether that’s Wilson vs. Bradbury at center, or Wilson vs. Brown at left guard, or even Wilson vs. an unnamed vet free agent at either position.
Onwenu, the player, deserves to stay. He was the team’s best player up front over the second half of the season, and had he made the Pro Bowl (for his play, not whatever else goes into those selections), I wouldn’t have been surprised. Onwenu, along with Morgan Moses, became the side of the line the Pats relied on, running behind that duo whenever they needed tough yards. They weren’t perfect – they were gotten by some stunts that, quite frankly, I didn’t think should happen to players of that experience level – but by and large, that was the strength of this unit.
Here’s the issue with Onwenu: his salary and his
