The Quest for 7: Patriots' final report card, Brady taker out? Draft re-do, Links 2.11.20

Morning! Welcome to The Quest for 7, where volunteer writer, Steven Viner, scours the net for seven Patriots related articles from other sites offering different points of view on the six-time champs. Paid subscribers not only get to read all seven, but they also get to check out his always fiery "Steve's Soapbox" at the end.

1. The final exam scores are in. In his sixth and final chapter of this microscope-thorough segment detailing the Patriots 2019 season, Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal lets us know which players gave the standout Patriots defense elite play. Easy to see why the defense carried the team for most of the year.

2. This has flown under the radar and could be crucial to Tom Brady coming back to New England. Dakota Randall of NESN reports that the Chargers might not be interested in Brady despite reports. Hollywood, nice weapons, good cap space, Larry David. Besides the Patriots, most feel the Chargers have the best shot at lassoing the GOAT. If they aren’t interested, that’s a Ron Burgundy kind-of-big-deal.

3. Always fun to Monday Morning Quarterback with previous drafts. Josh Edwards of CBSSports goes back in time one year and gives us his 2019 NFL draft Do-Over. Here's a bit of a spoiler: he doesn't have the Patriots taking N'Keal Harry. Also, Eric Edholm of Yahoo Sports takes a crack at telling the future with his two-round NFL 2020 mock draft.

4. He may have driven people nuts with constantly changing his mind about retiring or playing on, but the man has experience here. Dean Straka of 247 Sports tells us what advice the Wrangler-wearing gunslinging Brett Favre gave Brady about playing in his 40's. Did he really want to help Brady out, or just try to get him to buy one of those Copper Fit thingamajigs?

5. It may feel like it’s Brady, on top of Brady, multiplied by Brady, but there are a few other key Patriots who are approaching the 35-yard-line to kick off their own free agency. Paul Perillo and Mike Dussault of Patriots.com share who they believe is the most important non-Brady Patriots free agent. Frankly, I disagree with both and would go with Van Noy, but I’m just a former C.O. knucklehead who writes voluntarily so what do I know? Shrug emoji.

6. The Patriots' current situation at tight end is about as stable as the Red Sox front office. Matt Dolloff of 98.5 The Sports Hub feels the time is now for the Patriots to make major moves at the position. Matt won't get an argument from me, and I doubt he will from Pats fan on this matter as well.

7. In a piece that explains just about every pro and con ahead for the Patriots/Brady conundrum, Christian D'Andrea of SBNation asks, is Brady really worth 30 million to the Patriots in 2020? The title comes off as anti-Brady, but Christian does plenty of finger-pointing at what the GOAT had to put up with in 2019.

STEVE'S SOAPBOX

The place where Steve gets to give his take of the day from the perspective of a Patriots fan.

Akiem Hicks, Logan Ryan, Malcolm Butler, Trey Flowers, Trent Brown, and soon to be Joe Thuney … are the Patriots doing enough to recognize vital players with less than 2 years left on their contract, and making an adequate effort to extend them? They locked up Shaq Mason and Jonathan Jones early. Good moves. But that’s basically it in the past five years.

Back when Butler was the Patriots’ top corner, New England suddenly had T-Rex arms when they went to reach for their wallet, and reportedly offered him 6-7 million a year. Can we really count Belichick and Caserio’s effort to extend Butler when we learned that they offered him half of what he ended up getting from Tennessee?

Bill, Nick, project what the player will make and come close. The Patriots needed to estimate that Flowers would receiver offers of 15 to 18 million and ask him – here’s the key — a year and a half early to take 12 million. The player takes a little less for the extended security, the team saves cap space by signing him early. Contract Extensions 101. Did the Patriots offer Trent Brown an 11 million a year extension? Logan Ryan 7 mill a year? Chandler Jones 10 mill? If they did, fans certainly didn’t hear about it. And no one keeps their mouth shut anymore, so yes there would have been “sources” and “reports” of offers.

Now the Patriots are on the brink of losing an A-level guard in Joe Thuney, and I don’t recall them offering Joe a 7 to 9 mill a year contract extension at any point last season. How about offering J.C. Jackson and Lawrence Guy a little love now, before they become too pricey next year?

Be on the lookout for more The Quest for 7 features. Want extra Salty Tears and Soapbox? Click on my name above and scroll down for previous Quests!