Which former Patriots are destined to fail in 2024?
New England Patriots / Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports
The New England Patriots have had a busy 2024 offseason already when it comes to player movement, and it’s only going to get more interesting as we approach the 2024 NFL Draft. The Patriots have signed 12 players and brought back some familiar faces in the process, but they’ve also lost a number of guys on both sides of the ball.
Not that the Patriots should be trying to “run it back” anyway. This is a team that featured one of the league’s worst offenses in recent memory this past season, so they certainly shouldn’t be in a hurry to bring back players from that unit. We’ve seen a number of players from this Patriots roster leave for “greener pastures” but they might find the grass isn’t exactly greener on the other side.
Which former Patriots are in line to potentially fail in 2024? Let’s look at a trio.
1. Mac Jones, QB (Jaguars)
The situation for Mac Jones went from bad, to worse, to pretty miserable in all honesty. There is value in a change of scenery sometimes, and Mac Jones is definitely going to have better coaching at his particular position with the Jaguars, but his value is not likely to increase this coming year when he’s about to hit free agency.
And that’s tough.
The former first-round pick obviously would have loved to have gotten sent to a situation where he wasn’t bound to the bench this offseason, but perhaps a return to his roots (Jones is a Jacksonville native) will do well for him. It’s just hard to see things going overly well when he’s stuck behind his 2021 NFL Draft classmate Trevor Lawrence.
2. DeVante Parker, WR (Eagles)
The New England Patriots had to be laughing hysterically at the fact that some NFL team picked up DeVante Parker almost immediately after the Pats let him go. With all due respect to the former first-round pick out of Louisville, Parker has been one of the bigger NFL Draft disappointments at his position in recent memory.
This statistic really paints the picture well:
this is hilarious
WR separation using Next Gen Stats player tracking data
DeVante Parker rankings by year:
2020: #132 out of 132
2021: #127 out of 127
2022: #122 out of 122
2023: #115 out of 115impressively dead last in separation for 4 straight years pic.twitter.com/Rx2wlxqpR5
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) March 7, 2024
So, let’s ask ourselves what exactly the Philadelphia Eagles think they’re getting here? Sure, Parker only signed for one year, $1.21 million in Philadelphia. He got the veteran minimum, and may not even be guaranteed a roster spot.
And finishing dead last in separation four years in a row doesn’t exactly inspire a ton of confidence that he’s going to be able to go out to Philly and provide them with a much-needed third option in the passing game at wide receiver. That was an area the Eagles really struggled last year.
It just doesn’t feel like a wise investment on their part. It’s possible that Parker is just beyond the point of no return at this stage of his NFL career.
3. Trent Brown, OT (Bengals)
The idea of Trent Brown being paired up with Orlando Brown Jr. in Cincinnati is so much fun on paper. Those guys provide the Bengals with one of the biggest tackle duos likely in NFL history.
Now that Cincinnati has announced its signing of OT Trent Brown, Bengals QB Joe Burrow will have two XL OT Browns protecting him this season: pic.twitter.com/XIEfPmVWHV
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 19, 2024
Again, on paper, this one is a lot of fun. The Bengals filled their biggest need offensively by adding a really good player in Trent Brown whose only question mark is really his consistent availability and willingness to buy in.
What do we mean by that?
Well, let’s just say that Brown has needed a very specific environment to be productive throughout the course of his NFL career, and the Patriots really seemed to be the only ones who could get the best out of him. But even late last season, Brown was a healthy scratch and he had to address that during his introductory press conference with Cincinnati:
“I feel like I’ll be worried less and be able to worry about playing football. I won’t have to worry about any off-the-field things, and I’ll be able to just enjoy coming to work on a day-to-day basis. And that was important as well when we talk about fit.”
– Trent Brown (via PFT)
It’s going to be interesting to see how this goes with the Bengals and Trent Brown. They are going to desperately need this move to work out for Joe Burrow’s sake, but based on his history, you might be able to count on this one going south in a hurry.
