Should the Patriots tank in 2024?

Should the New England Patriots tank in the 2024 season? Felger, Mazz, and Murray discuss the idea.  

Felger: Quick question for you...should the Patriots tank?  

Jim Murray: No.  

Felger: Should the Patriots tank?  

Mazz: No. 

Felger: Murray, why do you say no?  

Jim Murray: I can't deal with last year. They're going to suck, but you can still be competitive and suck. You can't be like last year where you're basically like, you know, I know they tried to win some games, they did in Denver and they did inPittsburgh, but they were so bad that at the end it did feel like tanking. 

Felger: I thought you were a draft guy and you like the draft picks.  

Jim Murray: I do. But you know how much longer are we going to have to put up with this? And it feels like a while. So I need them to compete. You need to be competitive. You need to go out there and try to win games. To actively go out there and tank and try to be like 0-17? No . No, no, no, no, no, no.  

Mazz: You know what the irony is? 

Felger: May I guess?  

Mazz: Yeah. 

Felger: They kind of are. 

Mazz: Exactly well, and not only that, they're not going to have to try, they'll lose on their own.  

Felger: But they kind of are. 

Mazz: I felt this way as soon as they traded Judon. It had a tank-ish feeling to it.  

Felger: Why shouldn't they tank Mazz?  

Mazz: OK, so look, I will tell you that first of all I don't think they're going to need to, I think they're going to be bad enough on their own. I’ll start with that. But then the other thing is you don't want to get into this culture of like, “we're going to give away games and seasons”. To me it's a waste. 

Felger: It’s a slippery slope Mazz. 

Mazz: It's wasting everybody's time and it creates this whole sort of culture that losing is okay.  

Listen to Felger and Mazz from 2-6 every Monday-Friday on 98.5 The Sports Hub, with hosts Mike Felger, Tony “Mazz” Massarotti, and Jim Murray “Big Jim”. You can listen live in the Sports Hub App and subscribe to their podcasts here. Follow @FelgerAndMazz on Twitter to keep up with the show!

As the Patriots get ready for their first game week of the 2024 season, they'll do so with a full practice squad. The filled the final two spots on Monday, announcing the signings of linebackers Joe Giles-Harris and Yvandy Rigby.

Giles-Harris spent all of last year with the Patriots on the practice squad, and didn't appear in a game. Back with the team this summer he had a strong preseason, but was let go during final roster cuts. He's entering his sixth NFL season, with stops in Jacksonville and Buffalo where he played primarily on special teams.

Rigby is a UDFA out of Temple who spent the offseason with the Ravens, who signed him following the draft in May. In three preseason games in Baltimore he made 18 tackles on 104 defensive snaps, playing mostly in coverage against the pass.

With these signings, the Patriots' practice squad is now full. They have the maximum of 16 players, plus defensive end Jotham Russell who doesn't count against the total as a member of the NFL's International Pathway Program.