To this point in free agency, Bill Belichick has shown that he's not going to change.
He wants to win the deal. Build up depth. Win the margins.
Oh, and his defense is damn good as-is, even against the best offenses and quarterbacks — and there are plenty of those on the schedule, especially this division, this year.
Doesn't matter what's going on around him as far as trends. Other teams are winning with offense, but Belichick believes winning in the margins. Other teams are building up where they were weak a year ago, but Belichick thinks incremental improvement is the way to go. Slow and steady wins the race.
Belichick reminds me of the old man in the movie Up. The Jets with Aaron Rodgers, Dolphins with their explosive offense along with big changes on defense this offseason and the two-time reigning AFC East champs Bills with Josh Allen are erecting skyscrapers in the division with talent, scheme and high-scoring offenses.
Meanwhile, Belichick is sitting in his 71-year-old house that has changed very little since he tailored it to his liking.
We'll just have to see if he has some hidden balloons to lift the Patriots from the bottom of the AFC East to actual contention.
Basically, the Belichick Patriots are the same in 2023 as they were in 2001.
Doesn't even matter who the quarterback is. You could have the greatest of all time, a backup like Jimmy Garoppolo, or a young guy just trying to get better like Mac Jones. The Patriots win with scheme (except last year ... his bad), the system and coaching. The players are interchangeable.
I still expect the Patriots to do more — they're still in the tight end and receiver market. If they get, say, a Mike Gesicki and DeAndre Hopkins/Odell Beckham then OK, they've definitely gotten much better on paper from a season ago.
But if they stick in Belichick's snail lane, this is setting up to be the ultimate Belichick referendum.
He's either going to look brilliant while the rest of the division looks like flashes in the pan, or he's going to look like so many other aging great coaches — completely out of touch and divorced from the modern game. He will be Don Shula, Tom Landry and Chuck Noll.
And considering what has gone down here since Tom Brady left, Belichick is no longer on a heater — and with each passing year it looks like Brady was largely responsible for that. Last season and the offensive coaching decisions were rock bottom. Belichick needs to right the ship quickly.
So far, that's not happening.
Juju Smith-Schuster is a slight upgrade over Jakobi Meyers in terms of talent and ability in the slot, but there's a Nelson Agholor-like bust factor there and you had zero with Meyers. I've been asking for a slot upgrade for years, so I'm not complaining, but this is a marginal improvement if it is one at all.
James Robinson at running back is the veteran back that they needed, and he could be more healthy this season than he was for the Jets. Not all that much better than Damien Harris.
Going from Jonnu Smith to anyone at TE2 is an upgrade, so we look forward to that.
Are they going to get more talent on the outside? That's the big question and so far that's been quiet. Still time.
I do not like how they're running it back on defense. Even the guys they are looking at on visits, Rams S Anthony Rapp and Dolphins Edge Andrew Van Ginkel, are not difference-makers.
More white chip players already full of them, without the blue chips that helped them win titles.
Belichick doesn't look like he's going to change. Is that enough in today's NFL?
We shall find out.