Patriots will be better in 2025, and here are six reasons why – NBC Sports Boston

Have you heard it’s different down in Foxboro in 2025?

You probably have. Us hacks have only told you 2,744 times that it’s a different “vibe,” or that there’s a palpable “energy” or a “sense of purpose and urgency” that SHOULD help the Patriots break the five-win barrier for the first time since 2022.

(I just realized that the team’s total win output from 2022 to 2024 is the same as 2007: 16).

You don’t have a press pass, but you don’t really need one to sense the same thing we’re seeing. It oughta be better.

But there’s that itch, that nag. That annoyance, like the edge of a T-shirt tag digging into the knob at the base of your neck. You’ve sensed “different” before. And it was. But it wasn’t better.

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You imagine Lucy Van Pelt and her cruel treatment of Charlie Brown. You don’t want to be Charlie Brown again.

How can you be SURE this time is different? What’s tangible, unassailable, solid proof that this year’s model is going to be better?

Because you bought Bill Belichick’s summer of ’22 assurance that Mac Jones was about to explode. We bought it too. Check this out from Day 1 of that training camp … “Phil … there’s a vibe to this team. There’s an energy…” Holy crap.

You bought that the return of Bill O’Brien in 2023 would turn things around. You swallowed hard and tried to envision that Jerod Mayo was going to capture hearts and minds and send the team in a more functional, post-Bill direction. None of the above occurred.

So what’s truly better now?

Here are a half-dozen, take-it-to-the-bank, dead-mortal lock reasons this Patriots team won’t leave you alternating between rage and the fetal position on Sundays this fall.

New broom swept clean

There’s an entirely new leadership council ready to ascend. These were the team’s 2024 captains: David Andrews, Ja’Whaun Bentley, Jacoby Brissett, Deatrich Wise Jr., Jabrill Peppers, and Joe Cardona. One player (Peppers) is returning. Two other long-term Patriots (Jonathan Jones and Davon Godchaux) are also gone.

I’m in no way intimating that these guys weren’t good leaders. Undrafted guys like Jones and Andrews, a fifth-rounder like Bentley, a fourth-rounder like Wise, a friggin’ Navy man like Cardona who all ascended to vital roles? Those are guys worth listening to and following.

But they’d seen some things and been through the wringer since 2019. Poor David Andrews was the guy who – in 2022 and 2023 – was the first guy out to meet the media after grinding for three hours and explain what chaos happened that week. They’d been beaten down by a half-decade of losing.  

And while it’s a sobering reality that there are no players remaining from the last Super Bowl-winning team, it’s a reality that needs to be embraced. Those days are over. Clinging to the past and hoping to roll back the clock to the good old days is a fool’s errand.

Leading from the middle?

Twelve of the top 14 teams in rushing yards allowed per game made the playoffs in 2024. The Patriots were 23rd. The top-five teams on third down all made the playoffs. The Patriots were 26th. Thirteen of the top 15 teams in takeaway plus-minus made the playoffs. The Patriots were 28th (minus-11).

The Patriots’ front-seven — and more specifically their defensive front — has the potential to make a massive leap this year. They signed Milton Williams, the plum defensive free agent. Christian Barmore looks tremendous after his 2024 bout with blood clots. Keion White has the potential to be a game-wrecker. Harold Landry has 31.5 sacks in his past three seasons.

Improve against the run and get off the field on third down. Be better than the worst team in football at generating sacks (which they were last season) and maybe the opponent passer rating goes down from 96.9 (26th in the league).

Create more pressure and see more hurried throws and maybe there are more than seven measly picks generated in 17 games. The trickle-down from the front should be a boon to the linebackers — free agent add Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss, in particular.

A wagon of a coaching staff

Before 2024, Jerod Mayo had never been a head coach, DeMarcus Covington had never been a defensive coordinator, Alex Van Pelt had never been an offensive coordinator/play-caller, Jeremy Springer had never been a special teams coordinator, Tyler Hughes had never been an NFL wide receivers coach, Dont’a Hightower had never coached and T.C. McCartney had only been a quarterbacks coach one season back in 2019.

Now? Mike Vrabel is a former NFL Coach of the Year with six seasons of head coaching experience. Josh McDaniels has four years head coaching experience, 13 years as an offensive coordinator and six Super Bowl rings as an assistant or coordinator. Doug Marrone’s been a head coach for seven NFL seasons and this will be his 14th season as an offensive line coach.

Passing game coordinator Thomas Brown has two years as an OC and was the Bears interim head coach last year. Wide receivers coach Todd Downing has never coached wideouts, but he’s got three seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator and 21 seasons in the league.

Only Terrell Williams is in his first year as a defensive coordinator, but he’s been coaching in the NFL for 13 seasons.

Experience isn’t some golden ticket to success. But this group sure as hell won’t be learning on the job, learning each other and trying to figure out what their expectation level should be while trying to find their voice as coaches.

Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Shutdown secondary

The Patriots are third in the NFL in positional spending at safety. They are sixth overall in total defensive spending. They have a second-team All-Pro corner in Christian Gonzalez, who’s still on his rookie contract, and a high-priced addition opposite Gonzalez in Carlton Davis.

They have a veteran in Kyle Dugger, who’s the sixth-highest paid safety in terms of guaranteed money (eighth in total value). Another veteran in Jabrill Peppers, whose overall contract is in the top 20. A good slot corner in Marcus Jones. A newly-drafted safety in Craig Woodson who some feel could be a fourth-round steal. A true free safety in Marcus Epps they added through free agency. An underrated returner in Jalynn Hawkins and a second-year hitter to keep an eye on with Dell Pettus.

With as much as we’ve made about the front-seven, the back end of the Patriots defense has been somewhat overlooked.

Here’s what Landry said last week when I asked him about the front-seven.

“Man, we got a talented group up front, I’ll tell ya that,” he began. “That’s another reason I’m excited for this season. Just all the way up and down, our front-seven – really, the whole defense, to be honest! This is an exciting group to be around and I’m excited because you just look at it and you feel the excitement of the production you could have knowing that everybody out there has that playmaking ability and that’s exciting to be a part of.”

So, better? Yes. Better.

The 2024 schedule wasn’t diabolical, but there were too many experienced quarterbacks for them to ever have the edge at that spot. They saw Joe Burrow, Geno Smith, Aaron Rodgers, Brock Purdy, Tua Tagovailoa, C.J. Stroud, and Trevor Lawrence out of the gate. Down the stretch they saw Matthew Stafford, Tua again, Josh Allen twice, Kyler Murray and Justin Herbert.

This year, with an improved defense, they start with Geno Smith and the Raiders, Tua, Rodgers and the Steelers and Bryce Young. After Josh Allen, they face the Saints, Titans, Browns and Falcons. None should have the quarterback edge. Then it’s Mayfield, Justin Fields, Burrow, whoever’s under center for the Giants then a tough close with Allen, Lamar Jackson, Fields again and Tua in the finale.

The home schedule is — on paper — cinchy (as we used to say in the 70s). And the quarterback nod should go to the Patriots more than half the year. If Maye progresses as expected.

Return of urgency

Ever think how much time this franchise has spent biding its time and seeing how things go? Almost the whole damn decade.

Belichick called 2020 a reset year. The team went after it in 2021, made the playoffs and got boat-raced. They entered 2022 with a “What, me worry?” and “We’ll see how it goes …” attitude about having a cogent offensive plan.

In 2023, we were told by Belichick the reason for optimism fans should have was the “past 25 years” of Belichick running the team. And 2024 was treated as a dry run for everything. An attempt to see how the franchise would look without Bill running everything. Hope and crossed fingers turned out to be a failed strategy.

This year, there is urgency. It was illustrated in free agent pursuits (several failed, but they went after it). A house-cleaning of Belichick guys. An all-competition, all-the-time mindset that you can see on the field in drills and even in attendance at OTAs.

Mike Vrabel’s not on the “just trying to build this year” train. He no doubt realizes his roster hasn’t magically transformed from one of the worst in football to one that’s even in the top-half of the league. But he’s made accountability a buzzword and has promised to wring out of this team every tendency for entitlement and stupid football.

Do you understand how far that can take them? To stop being situationally stupid? To find everyone rowing in the same direction and not wondering if they’re being put in the best situations to win football games? It’s been bad down there. There’s no assurance it will be good now. But there’s a half-dozen reasons it will be better.