Hell has frozen over, Bill Belicheck has opened up his checkbook and spent to make this New England Patriots team, potentially better than they were in 2020. Now is where I come in, I’m here to give my thoughts on how I feel about the signings that Bill Belicheck has done.
Henry Anderson DT, 2 years $7 million deal
I don’t have a whole lot to say about this deal, it’s a simple cheap contract that will help the Patriots in a position that can rush a QB to get a sack. Now, that’s something the Patriots struggled with in 2020, ranking 27th in the NFL for sacks, which if you’re that low you aren’t doing it right. Now with Anderson, I think he’ll fit well in the 3-4 based fronts that it appears New England wants to run in 2021. Now it’s up to Anderson to come into New England and simply put, do his job.
Montravius Adams DT, 1 year $2.5 million deal
Same as Anderson, I don’t know a whole lot about Adams. What I do know is that he’s a whole lot of man, standing at 6’4 and weighing in at 305 Lbs hes a big guy who like Anderson will come in and help with both getting to the QB and stuffing the run game of the opposing offensive which was a problem with New England for well all of last season. Like Anderson, if Adams comes in and does his job, I’ll be satisfied.
Nelson Agholor WR, 2 years $26 million deal
Now at first I was happy to see Bill looking to improve the WR room. Agholor’s deal is like a double edged sword, year 1 is fine when it comes to his cap hit which is only $7 million. Year 2 is where it gets iffy as of now where he’ll have a cap hit of $15 million and a dead cap hit of $10 million if cut or traded. I only mention these because we don’t know which version of Agholor we’ll be getting. Now I hope it’s the 2020 version where he racked up 897 receiving yards and 8 touchdowns, and not the 2019 version who had a lot of issues with dropping catches and was ultimately run out of town by the boisterous Eagles faithful.
Raekwon McMillian LB, contract TBD
Who doesn’t like some LB depth. That is what Raekwon will provide the Patriots with in 2021, now I’m not expecting crazy things from Raekwon in 2021, but he definitely has the potential to be a force and cause chaos on the defensive side of the football when called upon in the 2021 season, much similar to the role one Elandon Roberts played during his tenure in New England before leaving for the Miami Dolphins after the 2019 season. Now once again all i ask is that if Raekwon can come in and do his job, I’ll be happy.
Davon Godchaux NT, 2 years $16 million
Davon is exactly what New England was missing in 2020, a solid big guy who can stuff the run. Davon is a fresh addition to a New England D that’ll for sure want to cause havoc and chaos in 2021. Davon definitely unlike the other two DT signings will definitely be expected to carry the workload at DT, especially with the departure of Adam Butler to Miami. Now his cap hit of only $4 million this year isn’t bad and he’s the kind of guy that New Englan needs. I’ve said this alot but Do Your Job Davon and I’ll be happy.
Kendrick Bourne WR, 3 years $15 million
Again Bill clearly saw we needed upgrades at WR and what’s better than one new WR, well that’s simple two new WR’s. Kenrdick is a skilled and versatile WR who will help take the workload off of Jakobi Meyers who if we’re being honest here isn’t a WR1. Between Bourne and Agholor, New England should definitely see improvements at the WR position in 2021, plus it gives Cam Newton more options to work with.
Ted Karras C, 1 year $4 million
Ted at first was looking like he’d be the new starting centre for the New England Patriots in 2021, however he now becomes a 4 million dollar insurance policy with the resigning of David Andrews. Karras now unfortunately will become a rotation piece in the New England offensive line, where he could fill in at centre or guard if need be, but let’s hope that’s not a thing we need. That’s not a knock against Karras just we need this offensive line to stay healthy all season if we want a shot at the playoffs.
Matthew Judon OLB, 4 years $56 million
The Patriots struggled at all spots of the front 7 in 2020, with opt outs and players leaving in FA, Bill knew he needed a new fresh face at the Linebacker position. Enter Matthew Judon, the 6’3 linebacker is someone Bill is sure to love, he can play all over the field and he is a force who can definitely get to the quarterback. In his last two seasons alone, Judon accounted for 15.5 sacks, now that’s obviously DPOY numbers but it’s a welcome addition I along with many other Patriots fans are sure to love.
Kyle Van Noy LB, 2 years $13.2 million
He’s back, that right folks Kyle Van Noy is back in a Patriots uniform and I couldn’t be more excited. Kyle’s presence was missed greatly in 2020, on and off the field. He’s a guy who can cause chaos on the field all while being a leader off of the field also. Could this be the potential makings of a reunion of the Boogeyman defense that we saw in 2019? Well this Patriots fan sure hopes so.
Jaelen Mills SS, 4 years $24 million
At first the signing of Mills was fine but didn’t make all that much sense to me. But a few days later, Patrick Chung retired from the NFL. So the signing of Mills made more sense and his role along with second year safety Kyle Duggar became that much more important. I expect Mills to play Safety for the most part but the biggest pro to him is that he can play either Corner or Safety. But I expect him to fill in where Patrick Chung would’ve played in 2021 if he decided to not retire.
Jonnu Smith TE, 4 years $50 million
The TE position is something the Patriots have been trying to replace since Rob Gronkowski left the team after the 2018 season. Now I know Jonnu won’t come in and be Gronk, but he’s someone who can come in and be versatile in an offense that desperately has needed help at the TE position the last two seasons. Expect alot of two tight end sets in 2021 and the return of the Boston TE Party, something I’ll go into more with the last player.
Hunter Henry TE, 3 years $37.5 million
With the signing of Jonnu Smith, I believed that the Patriots were for sure out of the Henry Henry sweepstakes. But on Tuesday March 16th, things changed and bam Hunter Henry was signed by the Patriots, thus The Boston TE Party is back. Henry is one of the top TE’s in the NFL and now he’s a New England Patriot. He can help make the receivers more open and help with the run game.
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