Which current Patriots will still be here when the team is legitimately competitive again? (2024)

Patriots

Only five Patriots remain from the team that played in their most recent playoff victory at Super Bowl LIII in 2019.

By Chad Finn, The Boston Globe

August 21, 2024 | 9:31 AM

The Patriots achieved so much during their two-decade, never-to-be-duplicated dynasty that it has required a couple of years to fully comprehend certain aspects of it.

Example: From 2011-18, they made eight straight AFC Championship games.

We were always aware of the impressiveness of this, of course, and appreciative enough. Yet because the laser-focused mission in those days was to win Super Bowls, and there were some profound disappointments sprinkled in among those six confetti-rain victories, those eight straight trips to the NFL’s final four was something that could not be properly savored in real time.

It was a step in a longer journey, the sort of feat that gains appreciation as it gets further away in the rearview mirror.

I’ve found myself thinking about the astounding and yet secondary accomplishments of the dynasty Patriots — 11 straight AFC East titles from 2009-19 is another — a little more often lately.

Context, coldly enough, has come with the Patriots’ return to just-another-franchise status, their most recent playoff victory being Super Bowl LIII in February 2019. Only five Patriots — David Andrews, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Deatrich Wise, Jonathan Jones, and Joe Cardona — remain from that team.

One attempted rebuild, around changeup artist Mac Jones, didn’t take. Attempt No. 2, under first-year coach Jerod Mayo and No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye, is commencing now.

Thinking about the past as the Patriots turn again toward the future has left me wondering something:

Which current Patriots will still be here when the team is legitimately competitive again?

Not necessarily competitive for Super Bowls — the last five years have been a reminder of how difficult it is to win just one — but for division championships and deep playoff runs.

With the caveat that it’s still so early in all of this and careers can change in an instant in the NFL, here are the current players I think will be part of the next excellent Patriots team, broken down into completely arbitrary categories, because that’s what I do:

Yup, looks like a potential franchise quarterback to me: Drake Maye

Question: Did Mac Jones, in his three seasons, 43 games, and 1,346 passing attempts (lone playoff game included), ever unleash a pass like the effortless dart Maye threw to Javon Baker in the Eagles game?

Answer: No, he did not. No matter that Baker couldn’t hold on; it was revitalizing to see a Patriots quarterback make such a spectacular throw.

(It’s probably my favorite incomplete pass in a preseason game of all time. It’s also just about the only one I remember.)

Maye has played with more comfort and confidence in practice since that game, and there’s a decent chance he seizes the starting quarterback job. This is a terrific development — his capacity for learning is impressive, and it suggests the Patriots have handled him the right way — but I’m not convinced he should start yet.

The schedule (at Cincinnati, Seattle, at NY Jets, at San Francisco) is brutal to open the season, and the Patriots are apparently serious about playing Vederian Lowe at left tackle.

Maye is the future, and the future should start in October.

As for Joe Milton? A blast to have someone with that arm talent around, but if he’s eventually traded for a fourth-round pick, that’s a good outcome for the Patriots.

Potential/probable cornerstones: Christian Gonzalez, Ja’Lynn Polk, Keion White, Christian Barmore, Rhamondre Stevenson, Mike Onwenu

Confession: The limited number of players worthy of inclusion in this category is somewhat sobering.

Gonzalez played the role of fearless lockdown corner from the get-go as a rookie, but he didn’t make it through four games. Still, I’m setting his over/under on Pro Bowl selections at 4½.

Barmore was a force last year, but he’s out indefinitely with a scary blood-clot issue, and it’s probably not fair to put any expectations on him.

Polk is going to fall somewhere between David Givens (one of the most unsung early dynasty Patriots) and Deion Branch on the scale of reliability, a winning receiver if not a true No. 1.

I suspect one of the reasons the Patriots traded Matthew Judon is because they recognize that White is ready to break out.

Stevenson has just 499 rushing attempts in his career, so he still has plenty of mileage left at age 26.

Oh, and just put Onwenu at right tackle already.

Talented injury risks: DeMario Douglas, Marcus Jones

Go ahead and include Tyquan Thornton and Cole Strange in this category too, if you wish. Douglas had a super rookie season given the abysmal quarterback play, but he takes way too many big hits for a small player. Jones has electrifying speed, but he’s played just 17 games in two seasons.

Veterans who could still be here come brighter days: Jabrill Peppers, Kyle Dugger, Anfernee Jennings, Kendrick Bourne, Joshua Uche, Jonathan Jones, Jahlani Tavai, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Davon Godchaux, Deatrich Wise

This really depends on how long it takes for the Patriots to become a genuinely good team again. With deft drafting and player development and a handful of savvy free agent additions, it could be as soon as 2025. But if it takes longer than that, most of the aforementioned players will be into their 30s. I’d like to be wrong about this, but I can’t see Andrews and Hunter Henry being around for the rejuvenation.

Might still be here in five years, might be gone well before that: Javon Baker, Bryce Baringer, Marte Mapu, Caedan Wallace, Layden Robinson, Sidy Sow, Brenden Schooler, Atonio Mafi

That’s actually a decent group of young interior lineman, particularly if 2024 draftees Wallace and Robinson continue to progress. Mapu seems to be a man without a position. Baker shows flashes, but he’d better start hauling in those Maye fastballs when the real games begin.