Patriots Mailbag: Bulk of the offseason in the books

While the New England Patriots still won't play a meaningful game for the next four-ish months (we'll get their schedule on Wednesday and know the exact date of their opener then), in some ways the 'offseason' for 2025 is over. The heavy majority of the roster-building portion of the calendar has now passed, with the remainder of the spring and summer filled with on-field work instead.

It was a busy few months for the Patriots. They overhauled their coaching staff with Mike Vrabel now in charge. Turning to the roster, they were one of the highest-spending teams in free agency then made 11 draft picks including the fourth overall selection.

Now the team moves on to spring practices and eventually training camp, which will give us an early look into how these moves will play out. Position battle will highlight the next few months. That includes wide receiver, which once again is a crowded group but has its questions. We'll start there with this Patriots Mailbag...

To me there are four roster locks at receiver heading into to spring practices. They are Stefon Diggs (unless he opens the season on PUP), Kyle Williams, DeMario Douglas, and Mack Hollins.

That leaves one or two open spots for the remaining receivers highlighted by the following group - Kendrick Bourne, Kayshon Boutte, Ja'Lynn Polk, Javon Baker, and Efton Chism. Obviously, another spot would open up if Diggs starts the season on the reserve list.

Usually, recent draft picks like Polk and Baker would get preference here - especially a second-year second-round pick like Polk. However, given the way this new staff has taken a hatchet to the roster already, draft status probably holds less weight than normal.

Odds are the main two players competing for that final spot are Bourne and Boutte. Bourne should have a chance based on his past success with Josh McDaniels. Of course, that's contingent on him taking another step forward in his mobility and explosiveness now two years removed from a torn ACL. That's not an insignificant 'if' for a receiver who will turn in August.

Boutte's path to the roster is more about usage. Besides Hollins he's the only true 'X' on the roster. Plus, a promising sophomore year last year should be taken into account.

Chism is the wild card here. He checks all the boxes of a typical McDaniels slot wide receiver. Will that role be open, or do the Patriots plan to play Diggs and/or Williams in that spot?

So to answer the question, right now I'd think that between Boutte, Bourne, Polk, Baker, and Chism, only one or two players from that group will make the initial roster (Chism could stick around on the practice squad even if he doesn't make the initial 53).

Douglas is more of an explosive, big play threat which the Patriots desperately need. That's the main reason why he should be on the roster.

As for his skillset fitting more with McDaniels than Drake Maye, McDaniels has done a good job during his Patriots tenure of tailoring his offense to the quarterback. He's less rigid than the average offensive coordinator.

Douglas has talent and given his athleticism has arguably more upside than Boutte (or most of the receivers on the Patriots' roster). It will just be about McDaniels finding a way to use him that fits better into the context of what he wants to do with Maye. I'm expecting Douglas' usage this year to look different than it did in 2024.

Again, McDaniels does a good job of varying his offense. I'd think we'll see plenty of different personnel groupings used this year, including both 12 and 21. Austin Hooper's return and chemistry with Maye should dictate some 12 personnel usage, and the signing of Brock Lampe certainly makes it seem like there could be more traditional fullback involvement in 21 looks.

As for the top two receivers? If Diggs is healthy, I'd guess mainly him and Williams. If Diggs isn't healthy I'd think Williams and then Mack Hollins rotating which whichever player(s) make the team between Bourne, Boutte, and Baker.

Going by scoring, the Patriots should have one of the better defenses in the league this year especially when factoring in their schedule. Outside of the 2020 COVID season, Vrabel's worst defense in Tennessee ranked 16th in the league. Top half is certainly a fair expectation, with top 10 a possibility if everybody stays healthy.

The main thing capping this defense is the lack of a true impact pass rusher. They have good players and solid depth, but not that blocking scheme-dictating sort of rusher. The biggest thing that could boost this unit would be a breakout year from a player like Keion White or rookie Bradyn Swinson.

On paper I'd say it's the offensive line, which I wrote about after the draft. Three positions are set to be clearly upgraded from last year if everybody stays healthy, and you could look at that as four if you consider Mike Onwenu will finally get to settle and work at one position instead of bouncing around like he has for most of his career.

Granted, some of the reason the unit is 'most improved' is because of how much room there was to grow from last year. This is still a work in progress up front, but the Patriots made good strides this spring.

The defensive front/front seven belong in this conversation as well. There was significant turnover with players coming in and out all offseason, as the 'trenches, trenches, trenches' approach played out.

I'll give them a B/B+. They accomplished a lot of what they needed to, which is impressive given how long their to-do list was. However they once again missed the major splash at wide receiver. Stefon Diggs is a solid pickup, but not on the same level as a player like Chris Godwin or D.K. Metcalf would have been. With everything they got done this offseason though, they should now be in better position and have more flexibility to make wide receiver a more singular focus next spring.

This is a tough question to answer without seeing some of these guys on the practice field. It's too early for an exact name but positionally, wide receiver definitely seems like the position to look at.

The Patriots are currently in Phase 2 of the NFL's offseason program. It's a three phase program, outlined by the CBA. Here are the phases via the NFL's operations website...

Phases 1 and 2 are closed to the media, so the day-to-day schedule usually isn't public. The first time outside eyes will see the 2025 Patriots will be in OTAs, with three of the 10 practices (plus all three minicamp practices) open the media. The first such practice will be Tuesday, May 20.