It's not over and the Patriots could still do a few more things, and probably will (the quarterback situation is still a bit up in the air ... and complicated).
But if this — center David Andrews agreeing late Thursday night to return on a four-year deal — is the final big move for the Patriots in free agency, then take a bow, Bill Belichick.
Talk about executing a shopping list. I can't even remember everything at the grocery store, let alone throwing millions of dollars around of someone else's money, setting up my final Hall of Fame act, and trying to wash away the bitter aftertaste of a 7-9 season when the Patriots basically spent the final nine games playing out the string. Belichick knew it was over at 2-5 last year, which is why he picked that moment to trot out the excuses for what had happened.
The moment Belichick opened his mouth and started to say things — the same guy who earlier said, “We never make excuses. We don’t make excuses about anything. Period. That’s not what we do. We don’t make excuses.” — he put his butt on the line like never before.
In essence, Belichick was saying, "Look, Brady left, we had some key opt-outs, a new QB, Covid made restarting almost impossible ... yeah, we're not very good, but it's a one-year thing. It's a blip. You best believe that."
Belichick had to deliver this offseason. And, boy, did he.
Look, a lot of this was fortuitous luck. You can believe people out there who want to sell you that this was the plan since Tom Brady walked out the door. It's not the truth. Just start with the fact that if Cam Newton played well last season, the Patriots would have had to pay the freight on a franchise QB. There were the Julian Edelman and Stephon Gilmore injuries. Nobody knew the opt-outs were going to happen. No one knew the pandemic was going to keep people out of NFL stadiums the entire season and cause the salary cap to shrink in the offseason when the Patriots had gobs of cap space
But you also make your own luck. And Belichick did plenty of that. Just take the Andrews situation, which I strongly hinted at in our latest podcast released Thursday afternoon.
"Andrews thinks he's moving on. Whether he does ... we'll see. ... He could come back with his hat in his hand. (Ted Karras) is a good fill-in, but the Patriots need to find better. Perhaps it's Andrews coming back for a one-year deal to maybe hit free agency again next year, I'm sure the Patriots would be open to that. I think that would be the ideal situation for both sides at this point. We're just gonna have to see whether that happens or not."
