Bedard's Breakdown: Why the Patriots stood pat at the deadline, and whether Maye's pressure issues are concerning

Some thoughts on the Patriots' lack of activity at the trade deadline before we get into our evaluation of the Falcons' game with video analysis, unit grades and 3 up/3 down ...

 • By now, you know the Patriots stood pat at the trade deadline. The Patriots were certainly making calls and tried to make a move or two to address depth issues at edge and running back, but nothing really came close to being consummated.

 • As Mike Giardi reported, the Patriots and Mike Vrabel were interested in making a deal with the Titans — likely Dre'Mont Jones, who went to the Ravens for a conditional fifth — but I don't think Amy Adams Strunk was keen on helping her former coach. I think the Patriots had some interest in Jets RB Breece Hall, and possibly one of their edges, but I don't think the Jets were inclined to deal players to a divisional rival they will see two more times this season. I also think the Patriots balked at the third-round asking price for Hall. They had very little interest in dealing picks from the first four rounds.

 • The only thing that really surprised me about their decisions at the trade deadline was how they dealt away two depth pieces, Kyle Dugger and Keion White, at positions where they were already thin (and they paid most of Dugger's contract for this year). That doesn't make much sense if they weren't going to replace them. Say what you want about those players, and White was terrible in this system, but at least they have experience. If Harold Landry goes down, is Elijah Ponder suddenly getting a lot of playing time? If Jaylinn Hawkins gets injured, some college free agent from the Dolphins' practice squad named John Saunders is out there defending Josh Allen? That I don't get.

 • But I do agree with the Patriots' decision to stick to their plan of rebuilding this roster, and not parting with real draft capital just because, most notably, they've been remarkably healthy to this point, and they're playing against a historically easy schedule (Drake Maye also arrived earlier, but that's certainly not a bad problem to have). The Patriots are 7-2 and have at least three relatively easy wins left on the schedule (Jets twice, Dolphins). But that doesn't mean they are a 7-2 team. Decision-makers have to be realistic about their teams, they have to tell the hard truth without passion or emotions. According to DVOA, the Patriots (14th overall) are the 8th team in the AFC behind the Colts, Chiefs, Bills, Broncos, Texans, Steelers, Ravens. The Patriots also have the worst defensive DVOA among all of those teams, even the Bills, Steelers and Ravens.

I'm sure a few will say, "Well, they could be this year's Commanders." And, sure, they could. It's a fair comp. I'll also point out that at this time last year, Washington was 4th in the NFC in DVOA (7th overall).

 • I also don't want to be the Commanders going forward. At this time last year, the Commanders tried for a decent-sized move — the kind most people wanted the Patriots to do — when they acquired Saints CB Marshon Lattimore for, basically, third- and fourth-round picks. He's basically been a disaster since the trade. In the final five games last season, including three playoff games, he allowed 15 catches for 240 yards, two touchdowns for a passer rating of 123.6 and six penalties.

The Commanders doubled down on "cashing in" on their surprise 2024 with QB Jayden Daniels by trading for LT Laremy Tunsil for 2025 third, 2026 second and 2026 fourth round pick. They also traded a fifth-round pick for Deebo Samuel.

They're currently 3-6 and the future suddenly doesn't look so bright. They have the oldest team in the league — by far — and, wouldn't you know it, they have one of the most injured teams in the league.

Part of the reason why the Commanders splashed so early was because they knocked the 2024 draft out of the park with nine total draft picks, three starters and three others who played large roles. But because they got aggressive, they were left with just five picks in the 2025 draft (without much impact), and only have two picks in the first four rounds next year. They also only have 26 players signed for 2027. After sort of trying to have it both ways in their rebuild, I think it's going to be some tough sledding without the draft capital.

 • This past offseason, the Patriots took almost the same exact approach as the Commanders did in 2024. With a depleted roster and a potential young franchise QB, they decided to sign a slew of veterans that they knew to quickly bring up the middle of the roster. And that has paid off.

They also took a lot of swings at the draft with 11 picks in 2025, and they're getting heavy contributions from seven of them.

But they passed on a Lattimore-type deal this year, despite having a surprise season like the Commanders did last year. Why? This is the reality staring them in the face in a few graphics:

How'd they get here? I think we all know, from NBC Sports Boston

You can't build a sustainable winner by signing a bunch of free agents. You have to draft and develop.

Then there's also this, another oncoming roster meteor:

You may not even like some of the players on those lists, but they still need to be re-signed (expensive) or replaced.

We all know that most of this past year's free-agent class, outside of Milton Williams, are not here for the long haul. Stefon Diggs, Hollins, Bradbury, Morgan Moses, Henry, Chaisson, Spillane, Harold Landry, and Carlton Davis all have oncoming expiration dates over the next year or two, unless you want to get really old and injury-prone fast like the Commanders.

A majority of that needs to happen through the draft, and then developing the players. The Patriots made the disciplined decision to ignore the short term, and keep the long term in mind as they try to accomplish the goal of building a sustainable winner. The only way to help your odds of drafting better is to give yourself as many kicks at the can as you can get. That's what they're trying to do, as quickly as possible, to build up the level of homegrown talent so you can get to a place like the Colts, Chiefs and Ravens to make some bold moves.

Picks in 2026: 11 (1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7)
Picks in 2027: Full allotment, which I'm sure they're going to look to add to

You may disagree with what the Patriots did, but you can't knock the reasoning. They entered with a plan for the long term, and a surprising start isn't going to cause them — perhaps with the Commanders on their mind again — to deviate from it.

"We have to build some depth here to this roster and you do that from the draft and just, it hasn’t been — we’ll call what it is, it hasn’t been real great," Vrabel told WEEI. "The depth of the roster has not been through our draft the last handful of years and that has to change.

“I don’t think that, right now, those conversations are centered around what our record is currently. I don’t think that that’s something that really bears into it. We’re building something. And if any of those things can help us build and strengthen us and allow us for long-term, consistent success, then I think that’s what we should try to do.”

 • Another factor in all this is adding players that might upset the apple cart in the locker room. If you bring in, say, a Trey Hendrickson (setting aside the draft pick ask and that he wants a huge new contract at 30), are you now sitting Landry or Chaisson? How's that going to go over? And the Patriots did a great job of resetting the culture this offseason by adding players of great football character. If you don't really know the player, you're putting a lot at risk just for talent that another team is willingly discarding.

"You're just trying to get it right," Vrabel said last week. "Whoever we add to this team, again, we've tried to establish something here as far as what we want to be and who we are. So, I think we'll always be conscious of the person. You have to have talent, and whether that's this week, next March or next July, always weigh the trust that we have with somebody and their ability and where that falls. So, those are decisions that we have to make as far as player acquisition."

Here are the positional ratings against the Falcons:

OFFENSE

Quarterback (2 out of 5)

This was my lowest-graded game for Drake Maye since the opener against the Raiders (mostly because of the two turnovers), and marks the third consecutive game in which his grade has declined. Normally, that would be cause for some concern, but I don't have much aside from more and more of the pressure in the games are on him (30% in his game). ... First of all, the turnovers were not egregious in that he will learn from them. The fumble (caused by a Mike Onwenu sack) will be a good teaching moment. The interception was just Maye and Hunter Henry seeing it two different ways. I think Maye wanted Henry to show a little earlier, but his pass up the seam toward a single-high safety didn't make much sense. ... Maye is still executing his throws at a high rate, as I only had an issue with two throws: high to Kayshon Boutte out of bounds where his feet got a little wonky, and the late throw to Henry over the middle on the pentultimate drive. Maye's decision-making as a quarterback is still very good. And he's still making 2-4 elite plays every week to offset most issues. And the fact that Maye made that 3rd and 12 pass to Stefon Diggs — a ridiculous throw — with the pressure on (and how he stepped up to throw a perfect ball to Henry on 3rd and 8), I'm not really worried. ... But he is starting to struggle with holding onto the ball too long and passing up viable underneath options, and he didn't slide again when he could have and took a high/low shot. But this is part of the deal when you're an athletic quarterback. He's hard to find the balance and even veterans are worse than Maye. Didn't realize PFF tracks QB pressure (as they say: Pressures are a stat a QB can own. This report considers plays where the offense allowed pressure):

First of all, I'm shocked that Caleb Williams is that low on the list (kudos to Ben Johnson). And Maye's sacks are too high (at least Justin Herbert has the excuse of losing both his starting tackles). But being behind Mahomes and Allen is a good thing, even if PFF's numbers are a bit off from mine (not sure if they consider scrambles and the end result, but I do if the reason for leaving the pocket is not justified):

I just think Maye needs a little bit of a reset — get back to better timing where it's 1, 2, 2.5 ... don't have something, get to the checkdown quicker — and this game with the two turnovers will probably suffice. Just needs to take more of the easy money and not be hunting for such big game, especially against teams with better defenses like the Browns and Falcons.

Running backs (2.5 out of 5)

I'm still not seeing much improvement from TreVeyon Henderson in terms of his instincts running between the tackles and finding cutback lanes. He left a few more yards out there. And his pass protection was again poor (half sack, knockdown), although he did have one blitz pickup where he blocked two players. I'm really not comfortable with him out there in pass pro. ... And I think Terrell Jennings is better between the tackles. He's all straight line, but he hits it hard and falls forward. I would go with him on the first two downs, but then that leaves Henderson on third down. Not interested. Come back soon, Rhamondre. ... Shoutout Jack Westover for continuing to improve with nice blocks on the TD and an 8-yard run. 

Receivers (4 out of 5)

Really good job all around by this group, even with the run blocking. ... Stefon Diggs had the great move and YAC for the TD, and his diving catch on 3rd and 12 was awesome. ... Demario Douglas was extremely dangerous in this game, and I was surprised to learn he only played 16 snaps. Kyle Williams (in place of Boutte) got an invisible 31. ... I put his incompletion on him. Double slants with Diggs on a 3-step drop. Williams ran it like it was a 5-step drop. .. Good game from Hunter Henry, who is just always going to have a tough run blocks. 

Offensive line (3 out of 5)

Really strong games from Garrett Bradbury (had two plus run and pass blocks) and Morgan Moses (nearly a clean sheet). ... Jared Wilson was strong in the pass game, but had a really tough time moving anyone in the run game. ... Will Campbell was very solid and a great block on the TD run, and his cutblock on the final pass to Hunter Henry sprung that play and was executed to perfection. ... Another week, another solid grade for Mike Onwenu but he whiffed again in two big spots. He just doesn't move very well from side to side.

DEFENSE

Defensive line (4 out of 5)

Just another ridiculous game from Milton Williams, who delivered nearly half the team's pressure by himself (6 of 17). I said he wasn't worth the contract when they signed him, but you hoped he would in 2 or 3 years. Yeah, he's worth it after nine games. I'll shut up now. ... Overall more solid play from this group, but I'm little worried Christian Barmore was very quiet with his one half sack as far as impactful plays. That's odd. ... Upon further review, Harold Landry was a little bit better than I thought.

Linebackers (2.5 out of 5)

Nothing really great or bad out of this group, other than Jahlani Tavai and Christian Elliss (twice) had really poor zone coverage filling their lanes. It's a constant problem every week, and a reason why I want them to start playing more man across the board. Figure it out. ... Jack Gibbens had a huge play to start the grounding drive when he stuck with Robinson on a screen that had a lot of potential if he got fooled. .... I'll use this space to vent about one of the coaching decisions: going blitz crazy. Patriots blitzed 35%. Highest blitz rates this season: 45% Raiders - loss; 38% Steelers loss; 35% - one point win over Falcons, 34% Saints - Spencer Rattler killed you. Why can't they get more out of the four-man pass rush? This could be a big issue as this season goes along. ... I get it, Michael Penix is a sitting duck, doesn’t handle pressure well, and Bijan Robinson can’t block. But this seems like a not smart way to go about things. ... They’re lucky Penix and Zac Robinson are not good at their jobs. That offense is awful. No layers to anything in the passing game, it's all deep stuff. Bijan was running good and they went drives/stretches without doing anything with him. And don't even get me started on the pistol stuff. What a waste. This is a team building around their QB, when they should be building around how to win games, and that’s Bijan and Allgiers all the time.

Secondary (3 out of 5)

Christian Gonzalez was awesome for most of this game with three pass breakups against Drake London, and his tackling continues to show up. ... I just don't understand how they let the only viable Falcons target go off in this game. Oh what I wouldn't give to make a team play lefthanded again. Why not just double him and make Penix try to complete any of his javelin throws to someone else? Anyone see Darnell Mooney and David Sils? Kyle Pitts is soft and he stinks. ... Robinson kind of owned Zak Kuhr with the London touchdowns. The Patriots were switching on two of the TDs, so they decided to call that off and match up Marcus Jones (who had another man/zone coverage bust in my opinion) on him, waiting to get switched off. The Falcons just ran away from the switch situation. But Carlton Davis did have good coverage on his. Just better ball and catch.

THREE UP

DT Milton Williams: Despite blitzing the crap out of Penix, Williams was the pass rush.

CB Christian Gonzalez: Probably his best game of the season.

WR Demario Douglas: Needs more than 16 snaps, and he runs that deep over a stick nod to perfection.

THREE DOWN

LG Jared Wilson: Really tough time in the run game.

RG Mike Onwenu: He's paid way too much money for these whiffs.

QB Drake Maye: The two turnovers nearly cost the team the game, and he had 5.5 QB pressures himself.