-
Mike Reiss, ESPN writer
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Quick thoughts and notes on the New England Patriots and the NFL:
1. Rodney’s opinion: Rodney Harrison is in his 16th season as an analyst for NBC’s “Football Night In America” and has noticed a change over the past two years.
“Every week they remind me that I go to the stadiums. From the fans’ perspective, they laugh. ‘Hey, what’s up with your Patriots?’ It hurts,” Harrison said in a phone interview. “You go from being considered highly respected and being such a dominant force, to suddenly people are joking about your team being in last place.”
Harrison, who will turn 52 on December 15, has close ties to the Chargers (1994-2002) and Patriots (2003-2008) thanks to his playing career. Because he was part of two Super Bowl championship teams in New England, as well as the 2007 club that went 16-0 in the regular season, many remember him more as a Patriot.
Harrison was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2019 and has spoken often about how much the organization means to him, including owner Robert Kraft, former coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady and others. At the same time, just as he was a hard-hitting safety on the field, he hasn’t shied away from taking a swipe at the franchise as an analyst if he believes it’s warranted.
Therefore, Harrison’s perspective on the current state of the Patriots was sought during the bye week, a natural time to take stock of the 3-10 team under first-year executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, and first-year coach Jerod. Mayo, with whom Harrison met for a year as a player.
“First of all, I’ve seen some things from Drake Maye that have surprised me. He’s better than I expected,” Harrison said. “I like the kid’s personality. I like his demeanor. He has a quiet competitiveness. He’s a much better athlete than I thought.
“The main thing I see is that they don’t have enough talent around them. They have to work on building that offensive line, and they have to get a number one receiver. The tight end situation is solid. I would bring in another running back. And, frankly, “I would look at some of the contracts on the defensive side of the ball and say, ‘Hey, do we need this guy to make ‘X’ amount of dollars or do we need to reallocate those resources to the offensive line?”
At the same time, Harrison acknowledged that he thought the defense, outside of promising second-year cornerback Christian Gonzalez, would have produced better results than a 20th-ranked average points allowed per game (23.6).
From a general standpoint, Mayo’s postgame comments on Oct. 20 following a loss to the Jaguars in London stood out as notable.
“When he said they were playing soft, I thought the players did a good job responding. They could have gone the opposite direction and abandoned him and said, ‘Coach is not for us. He’s trying to save his butt and point the ball.’ point the finger at us. But they continued to play hard,” Harrison said.
“They’re just not an extremely talented team. So I think Jerod has done a solid job in his first year and he has to continue to grow, ask questions, seek wise advice from other coaches and go back and look at different situations that they found themselves in.” as a team and look at those things. He has to put in the work, which he did as a player, so I think he’s going to get better, but they have to get talent and that’s up to Eliot.”
With roughly $130 million in cap space in 2025, easily a league-high, the Patriots are primed for an aggressive offseason.
“What you might have to do, because the Patriots have a reputation, is overpay up front,” Harrison said. “Guys aren’t going to come to New England because Belichick is there or because they think they’re going to be on a good team. They come to New England because they get paid.
“So now what you have to do is rebuild trust in your organization and you have to let the players outside the building know, ‘Hey, we’re not cheap. We’re going to pay the guys. We’re going to get football players here.’ ‘ Your reputation and what you did in the past – no one will come here because of that.”
2. Goodbye practice: The Patriots return Monday after holding a practice during their bye week, which took place Tuesday. They are one of six teams with a bye in Week 14, and of that group they were the only team to hold a practice during the bye week.
The Broncos played the Monday night game in Week 13 and coach Sean Payton gave the players the rest of their week off. Meanwhile, the Colts, Commanders, Ravens and Texans all had video work on Monday before the players left until the following Monday.
One difference between those teams and the Patriots: They are all in the playoff hunt and preparing for what they hope will be a deep run into early February, while New England is already eliminated from the postseason.
A screen inside the Patriots locker room informs players about the weather, the location of practice, whether it will be with pads or full pads and how many practices there are since the start of training camp. For those keeping count, Tuesday’s off-week practice was number 65.
3. Strange log: Offensive lineman Cole Strange has one more hurdle to hopefully overcome: practicing in full pads. The Patriots haven’t been fully equipped the last three weeks since Strange (knee) was designated to return from injured reserve, so expect that to happen this week.
That would better prepare him for game action, where ideally the coaching staff will come up with some type of rotation with Ben Brown at center starting Dec. 15 in Arizona.
4. Last two games: The day and time of the Patriots’ final two home games (Week 17 against the Chargers and Week 18 against the Bills) have yet to be determined by the NFL. If the Bills are playing for first place in the AFC, that could potentially impact the league’s decision-making process.
Otherwise, both games are supposed to stay on Sunday at 1 pm ET. The NFL will announce the Week 17 schedule after the Week 15 games and the Week 18 games after the Week 17 games.
5. New facilities: The Patriots announced plans to begin construction on a new football training facility, scheduled to open in spring 2026. Reaction from players was positive.
Patriots to begin construction on new football training facility: https://t.co/mSSJw5GcPW pic.twitter.com/djixWQoRv0
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) December 4, 2024
“Being here for a long time, seeing the same thing, it’s good to see the change. I’m excited to see the evolution,” said cornerback Jonathan Jones, who is in his ninth year with the franchise.
“Ultimately, we know the owners are investing in us as players and we need to make sure we take advantage of that investment,” added 10-year veteran long snapper and captain Joe Cardona, the team’s longest-tenured player.
6. The Return of Wallace: Offensive tackle Caedan Wallace, the 2024 third-round pick out of Penn State, has been sidelined since Week 4 with an ankle injury. Mayo said the hope has been for Wallace to return before the end of the season, so designating him to return would apparently be on the radar when the team returns for practice Monday.
Just as 2024 fourth-round pick Layden Robinson was inserted into the starting lineup last week (Mayo said it was his best performance of the season), the Patriots would ideally like to see Wallace generate positive momentum heading into to the low season. Could Wallace be the right tackle of the future? The last four games could provide some answers.
7. Young CBs: In what could be a sign of things to come in the final four games to get a better evaluation of the young players, the Patriots employed a rotation at cornerback opposite Gonzalez in last week’s loss to the Colts. Jones played a season-low 21 snaps, while 2023 seventh-round picks Isaiah Bolden (15) and Alex Austin (26) saw his time cut.
It was Austin’s first action since Week 3, as he had been on injured reserve due to his ankle and was one of the few players not looking forward to this week’s bye.
“I’m ready to come back from the break,” he said before the players left the locker room last Tuesday.
8.Harrison and Hall: Harrison is once again among a group of 25 semifinalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the next step is to see if he makes the cut as one of the 15 finalists later this month. Belichick has been one of its biggest promoters.
Saying he’s at peace with the outcome of the vote, Harrison added: “I’m blown away by the support I’ve received. I never thought about those individual Hall of Fame accolades; it was always a team for me. I know that.” It doesn’t define me and I’ve done everything I could do, so ‘it is what it is.’ Whatever happens, happens, brother.”
9. They said it: “From the first time the starter was announced to me, he came in and said, ‘This is part of it, let’s not make it awkward.’ From that moment on you knew what kind of teammate he was.” — Maye, on “Patriots All-Access,” when asked about veteran QB Jacoby Brissett
10. Did you know? Guard/tackle Mike Onwenu has played 100% of the offensive snaps this season, the only Patriots player to do so. González leads the defense at 98%.
