Grading the 2019 Patriots: Not much went right with personnel moves, but Patriots season still a success

Before an NFL team turns the page on the previous season and moves forward to the next, they put the team and their players under a microscope to see what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to be changed/altered to make progress in 2020.

Obviously, we have no idea what the Patriots’ internal grading looks like, and we don’t anticipate Bill Belichick opening up his grade book to the public anytime soon. So, we’re left to do our homework with some assistance from people who have knowledge of how the Patriots view things.

So we’ll start our dissection (which is a homage to my mentor, Bob McGinn) with an overview of the team and positions, and then we’ll move onto individual player grades/assessments. Finally, we’ll conclude with our imitated but never duplicated offseason depth chart coded for performance and contract status, and with a comprehensive analysis of team needs headed into the ’20 offseason.

Here's the 2018 version.

Part I: Grading the 2019 Patriots: Patriots were better overall, but tilted too much to the defense; Brady improved
Part II — Team grades for passing offense, rushing offense.
Part III — Team grades for passing defense, rushing defense, special teams.
Now: Part IV — Team grades for personnel moves, coaching and overall.
Next: Part V—Individual offensive grades.
Then: Part VI—Individual defensive grades.

JOIN US! Subscribe today for the most in-depth Patriots coverage all year long.

And with that, let’s get started…

PERSONNEL MOVES: F

Well, we might as well lay it all out there in a chart. Here are the major moves the Patriots made in 2019, without getting into free agents they did not bring back:

 



Look, even the most ardent Patriots fan would have to agree that not a lot went right in terms of player acquisitions.

Even the "successes" were limited. Yes, Jamie Collins was a nice addition but in the end, did it really matter? I like locking up Jonathan Jones, and Danny Shelton was a big key. Jake Bailey was a tremendous success and cheaper than Ryan Allen. Chase Winovich certainly flashed, and JoeJuan Williams looks promising.

But there's so many more that went south — moves that really hurt the team in the end — on the other side of the ball.

And you can start with Tom Brady's contract extension. Because things went so poorly, the Patriots may have to start over at the position next season with no compensation. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out.

The draft barely produced anything. And the 2018 draft gave them a half-season left tackle and an average running back.

Every single move at receiver and tight end — from the offseason signings, to Antonio Brown and Mohamed Sanu over Emmanuel Sanders — flopped. As the season flittered away, Brady was left without a reliable tight end or receiver outside of Julian Edelman. That's just inexcusable.

Then there were the trades they got nothing out of — Michael Bennett, Jermaine Eluemunor, Korey Cunningham, Russ Bodine, shipping Duke Dawson (a former second-round pick) for a bag of used balls — and just nothing worked with personnel. Throw in not having a similar athletic backup to center David Andrews. It was literally a lost year in that department and ended up being the reason this team fell short of another Super Bowl appearance.

COACHING: A-minus

There were certainly things to pick at. Joe Judge had to pull double-duty with special teams and receivers, and the latter group didn't improve at all over the course of the season. Teams caught up to Steve Belichick's zero blitzes in odd circumstances and repeatedly burned the Patriots down the stretch. And how Bill Belichick handled the season finale against the Dolphins — especially the Two-Minute Surrender before halftime — will be puzzled over for years to come.

But, in general, the coaching was pretty good this season.

For the life of me, I'll never understand the constant criticism of Josh McDaniels considering anyone with eyes knew the Patriots lacked any semblance of talent outside a few players on offense. That unit had zero speed ... McDaniels can't pull a rabbit out of his hat.

And Dante Scarnecchia had a tough time with his unit, but with constant upheaval at left tackle, Shaq Mason taking a few steps back due to injury, Andrews and Rob Gronkowski no longer in the blocking game ... that wasn't Scar's fault either. He did his best with a challenging unit.

In the end, the offense came up short due to personnel. The defense was great most of the season but ran out of gas. The special teams were great.

That's really good coaching to me.

OVERALL: B-plus

As "bad" as things went at the end of the season and in personnel, this team was still really close.

They started 8-0, and were right in an eventual 17-point loss to the Ravens in the second half, with Julian Edelman's fumble being the killer.

After a disastrous start at Houston, the Patriots were one fourth-quarter stop away from making Bill O'Brien and the Texans need their pants changed.

After spotting the Chiefs a 23-7 lead, the Patriots had two drives — the last one ending at the KC 5 — to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

A stop of the Dolphins on their final drive would have locked up a bye and perhaps led to hosting the AFC Championship Game.

And in the loss to the Titans, the Patriots only needed three points in the second half to take the lead.

After the 8-0 start, it was a very frustrating season as the Patriots went 4-5 down the stretch. The offense was terrible. A historic defense couldn't carry the team any further. Sometimes you weren't sure who was going to be kicking field goals.

But that was a pretty darn good season for a shorthanded Patriots team. If just one or two personnel decisions worked out, you're talking about a Super Bowl winner similar to the 2018 Patriots.

It just goes to show how slim the margin of error is in the NFL, and makes you appreciate the Patriots' remarkable run of success even more.

A tough season, for sure, but still a very successful one.