Zolak & Bertrand: Why The Patriots Should Not Tank This Season

On Tuesday's edition of Zolak and Bertrand, the guys discussed why the Patriots should not tank this season, but instead focus on creating a good culture and developing Drake Maye.

Bertrand: Should the Patriots tank?

Zolak: No. You want to tank the entire year, or do you want to tank at the end of the year? I'll have a discussion like we did a year ago, which I still thought was ridiculous, because you go out and try to win. I'd have the discussion at the end of the year if you're having a similar year to what you had last year. But don't have any approach going into this thing and thinking that we're tanking.

Bertrand: Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald writes, "It pains me to say it, but yes, they've already traded their best player, Matthew Judon. They're preserving more than 39 million in cap space, and they can roll it over into the off-season. They're fully engaged in a rebuild. Now go all in. Play the kids, sell at the deadline. Improve your odds of landing the number one overall pick. Until the Patriots have blue chip players in premium positions, they do everything possible to add them in the draft and free agency, and that means tanking. "

Zolak: Is this after watching Travis Hunter play.

Bertrand: Here's the thing. Do you need to try and tank?

McKone: No, not intentionally.

Bertrand: You're going to lose so much already. You're already competing for the number one overall pick. Why do you need to try to get the number one overall pick? What's the point of that? If Eliot Wolf decides to sell at the deadline, that's a brutal position he's putting Jerod Mayo in as a first year head coach.

Zolak: That's not good.

Bertrand: That's sucks. And again, arranged marriage. I'm going to keep pointing that out. Eliot Wolf didn't pick Jerod Mayo, and Jerod Mayo did not pick Elliot Wolf. Nobody picked each other in this. They may have started out being friendly and agreeing on everything, as they love to tell us in the offseason. Jerod Mayo was wise enough to tell us." Yeah, let's see what happens when we lose. Let's see what happens when we lose games.".

Zolak: He knows.

Bertrand: He does know. I want to see what that looks like. Is everything hunky dory with those two guys, if all of a sudden they are, God forbid 0-8, or 0-9?

Zolak: Yeah.

Bertrand: Then the GM says, "Well, the smart thing to do here is dump whatever we have. It's a lost year."

Zolak: That's tough.

Bertrand: I mean, you are at that point desperate to find positive things, paths toward competing in a game, and trying to end the year on a positive note. Then he might clean out the cupboard on him.

Zolak: Can't do that.

It’s no secret the Patriots are in the early stages of a rebuilding period. For any rebuilding team the draft is crucial, but that first draft is the most important. It’s meant to be the foundation for the entire roster-building process moving forward. 

What the Patriots hope ends up being their “foundational class” from the 2024 draft includes eight players - quarterbacks Drake Maye and Joe Milton, wide receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, tight end Jaheim Bell, offensive linemen Caedan Wallace and Layden Robinson, and cornerback Marcellas Dial. All eight made the team’s initial roster this week, something that hasn’t happened in New England since 1997. 

That 1997 class came in under very different circumstances, coming off a Super Bowl season. With the organization now trying to turn things around after missing the playoffs three times in the last four years this class faces much more pressure.

Talking to those eight players on Wednesday, they’re all embracing that challenge - and appreciate the opportunity to be doing it together. 

“It means a lot, but I'm definitely not surprised because I feel as if this class is a room full of ballers,” said Dial, sixth-round pick when asked about all eight players making the team. “So, definitely not surprised about it, but it feels great to have everybody around that I came in with.”

‘“It means a lot,” said Bell, a seventh-round pick. “We want to be the best rookie class that [the Patriots] have drafted. And that's what we're trying to do. The guys on offense that made the active roster, I feel like we bring a lot of explosiveness to the offense. And I feel like we can do nothing but help it go.”

That goal was echoed by Milton, another sixth-round pick. “We all had a goal in mind when we got here, and we all said that we would try to be the best rookie class the Patriots ever had,” Milton said. “So that's just something that we try to do every day by putting one foot in front of the other and keep going.”

Contending for ‘best Patriots draft class’ means matching groups that were truly foundational. The classes in 1976, 1977, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2010, and 2012 all had that kind of impact. If the 2024 class can even get in the ballpark of those groups, this Patriots rebuild will be off and running.

It’s a lofty goal for the eight Patriots’ rookies, one they know they won’t accomplish overnight.

“Just going through training camp not really looking too far ahead, being where we were at, it was just a great thing that we’re all here. Now it's time to do our part and do what got us drafted in the first place and make this team get better every single day,” said Robinson, a fourth-round pick.

“The same guys I came in with are the same guys I'm going to be able to grind with this upcoming season,” added Wallace, a third-round pick. “So it's really cool to have that happen.”

“We put in hard work to be here, and we're still working,” Bell said. “We're going to continue to work as hard as we can and we're going to help this place to go.”

“None of us are too big for the moment,” said Milton. “We're all just enjoying that we're here, but at the same time, that we all have to do work.”

Overall, Dial probably summed up the current mindset of the rookie class best. “I would say, eager and ready to shock the world,” he replied when asked to sum up the group’s current mentality. 

For the Patriots to turn things around quickly, it’ll take a major contribution from this draft class. They’ve checked the first box of making the team, now it’s about making an impact.