Can Brady & The Patriots Win Their Sixth Ring Next Year?

  Three months ago, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots fell short of winning their sixth Lombardi Trophy. Tom Brady was close to becoming the only player with six rings, but the Philadephia Eagles denied him of that. That night, the Eagles wanted their first ring more than the Patriots wanted their sixth. After falling short to the Eagles 41-33, the question that everyone has been asking now is if the Patriots could get back to the Super Bowl and win it for the sixth time before Brady retires? I believe that is what they are aiming for and they have a great opportunity to do it within two years!

Resetting the roster for 2018!

  The Patriots just went through an offseason in which they made all the moves to reload for another Super Bowl run. They didn't make any moves to rebuild for the future or to move on from Tom Brady. There were some reports that they were interested in drafting quarterbacks like Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson in the draft. However, they passed both of them and selected the players who will give Brady the best chance to win. There was a quarterback that the Patriots drafted in the seventh round this year. The Patriots drafted quarterback Danny Etling from LSU. His chances of making the team are very slim. If Etling plays well in the preseason and impresses his coaches in practices, he could then make it to the final 53 man-roster of the Patriots. Unless Etling has a heart like Tom Brady has, and could develop the ability to read defenses with his mind, I don't see him sitting behind Brady at the start of the season.

  Before we look at the players the Patriots drafted in this year's draft, let's look at the players who they added in free agency. Patriots' management was aware that they lost the Super Bowl not because of their offense, but because of the poor play of their defense. So what did they do in the first week of the free agency? First, they made couple trades with the Cleveland Browns, in which they sent some picks to bring in players like Danny Shelton and Jason McCourty. Both guys are not big-time players, but they are going to add talent and depth on the defense. Danny Shelton and Malcolm Brown of the Patriots are going to dominate the interior of the defense, and Jason McCourty will fill in for Malcolm Butler as the team's starting corner. Even though McCourty isn't as skilled as Butler, but he is a very intelligent player and is going to make many crucial plays for the Patriots with his head.

  Following the trade with the Cleveland Browns, the Patriots signed free-agent Adrian Clayborn. Again, the Patriots added another player who is not one of the league's best defensive player, but Clayborn will significantly improve the defense with his pass rushing skills as the Patriots were one of the worst teams in pass rush all of last year. Clayborn is a smart player who has talent but will mostly impact the game with his head. Bill Belichick really appreciates players who could make an impact in the game with their mind. Even though Adrian Clayborn is the only edge rusher the Patriots added in this year's offseason, he is not going to be the only player who is going to provide a boost to the defense with rushing opposing teams' quarterbacks. Last year in the 2017 Draft, the Patriots selected Derek Rivers in the third-round with the 83rd pick. He didn't get to play a single snap all of last year, because he suffered a season-ending injury in the Patriots' training camp. The Patriots will have Clayborn on one side and the youngster Rivers on the other side to chase down quarterbacks. Both of them should be considered an upgrade to what the Patriots had to offer in pass rush last year.

Tom Brady could work with any receiver on offense! Therefore, the Patriots decided to trade Brandin Cooks for a first-round pick. Before that, the Patriots lost slot receiver Danny Amendola, a do-it-all running back in Dion Lewis, and left tackle Nate Solder in free agency. That is some star power lost on offense, but the Patriots used the remainder of free agency period and the draft to replace most of their losses on offense. The Patriots traded for wide receiver/kick-returner in Cordarrelle Patterson, who is mostly going to be used on special teams, but can replace Brandin Cooks on offense as a speedster. Granted, Patterson is not as good of a pass-catcher and a route-runner as Cooks, but he has the speed to get behind any defensive back in the league. Plus, Patterson never got to play with a quarterback as good as Drew Brees or Tom Brady (the two quarterbacks with whom Cooks has played with). Let's just say if Patterson struggles to replace Cooks in the passing game, Patriots could use Jordan Matthews to play as their deep threat receiver. Just two days after the Patriots made the trade of Brandin Cooks, they signed free-agent Matthews to a one-year deal. Like Patterson, Mattews hasn't played with a superstar quarterback yet. He did play with Carson Wentz, but that was when Wentz was a rookie, and Eagles' offense was just starting to pick things up. Now Jordan Matthews with the Patriots will finally get to play with an established offense, with great overall talent around him, and with the best quarterback of all-time throwing him the ball.

  Before picking up Mattews in free agency, Patriots also added running back Jeremy Hill from Cincinnati, who could be used a lot on first-down runs. Hill can become what Blount was for the Patriots from 2013 to 2016. Then in the draft, the Patriots selected Sony Michel with their 31st pick. Michel can do whatever Dion Lewis could do as a running back. Many experts and NFL players believe that Sony Michel will excel in Patriots' offense and could do even better than what Dion Lewis did for them. AJ Green of the Cincinnati Bengals, who is a former Georgia Bulldog like Sony Michel, believes that Michel will win the offensive rookie of the year in 2018. Also with the draft, the Patriots added four more players on offense, with two of them who will most likely play for them in 2018. The Patriots with their first selection in the draft selected Isaiah Wynn from Georgia. Even though he is small, Wynn is projected to replace Nate Solder at left tackle. Less than a day after the Patriots drafted Wynn, the Patriots made a deal for Trent Brown of the San Francisco 49ers. Brown has started twenty-eight games as a starter at right tackle for the 49ers. If Wynn struggles at left tackle, then the Patriots could use Trent Brown at left tackle since he has experience of playing against NFL defenses. The Patriots as of right now are in good shape at the tackle position. In the sixth round with the 210th pick, the Patriots selected wide-receiver Braxton Berrios from Miami. Berrios, according to Reggie Wayne has all the tools to do what Danny Amendola could do as a slot receiver. So if Reggie Wayne is right, then Berrios will replace Amendola as the Patriots' second option at the slot receiver. The only question regarding Berrios is if he could make the big catches and big plays which Amendola routinely made in the playoffs with his time with the Patriots.

 Before the 2018 draft officially started, I expected the Patriots to spend most of their draft picks on defensive players, so then their defense wouldn't allow a quarterback like Nick Foles to shred them in the biggest game of the year. Instead, they went pretty even with their selections of offensive and defensive players in the draft, and they waited until the second round to draft a player on defense. After spending their first two picks on offensive players, the Patriots selected defensive players with their next three picks in the draft. First, they selected corner with great ball skills, Duke Dawson from Florida. He can help the defense in his very first year, but as we all know, rookie corners struggle mightily with established wide receivers in the NFL. I see him start the first half of the season as the Patriots' third corner behind Stephon Gilmore and Jason McCourty, and if he plays well, he could play as the team's number two corner for the last eight weeks of the regular season and then the post-season. After drafting a talented corner in the second-round, the Patriots drafted two linebackers to add to their defense. In round five with the 143rd overall pick, the Patriots selected Ja'Wahuan Bentley from Purdue, and then in the sixth round with 178th overall pick, they selected Christian Sam from Arizona State. Both Bentley and Sam are very good at making tackles and tackling down running backs for loss of yardage on plays. Also, both of them have a solid chance of making it to the final 53 man-roster in this upcoming season. One of them could replace David Harris, who recently retired from playing football, and the other could replace either Harvey Langi who missed all of last year, or Marquis Flowers who had his ups and downs in 2017. Later in the draft, the Patriots selected Keion Crossen in the seventh round with the 243rd overall pick. Crossen, who is a cornerback coming out of Western Carolina, is going to have to play extremely well in training camp and preseason in order to make the final roster. There are a lot of good corners head of Crossen in the Patriots' defensive back depth chart.

New England Patriots' overall roster!

  To win in this league, you have to be very good in all three phases of the game. You have to be good on offense, good on defense, and good on special teams. New England Patriots won two of the last four Super Bowls because of great coaching and how well the players executed in all three phases of the game. Last year, the Patriots lost to the Philadephia Eagles because their defense just couldn't stop Nick Foles from completing passes. Since losing the Super Bowl, Patriots have made changes in all areas of the game. Let's see how good their overall roster is.

  On offense, New England Patriots still have Tom Brady at quarterback who is still playing at a very high level. They still have the most dominant tight end in the game with Rob Gronkowski. The Patriots did lose Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks from their wide receiving core, but they have Julian Edelman returning, who missed all of last year. Besides Edelman, they still have Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett, and Malcolm Mitchell. The Patriots also added Cordarrelle Patterson and Jordan Mattews to their receiving core mix. Such a receiving core would be considered a B to B plus anywhere else, but in New England where Tom Brady is throwing the ball and Josh Mcdaniels is calling the plays, this is a great receiving core. Besides these receivers and Gronk at tight end, Patriots have backs like James White, Rex Burkhead, and Sony Michel who could catch passes from the backfield, and turn a three yard gain into a twelve yard gain. For the offensive line, Patriots did lose Nate Solder, but they quickly drafted Isaiah Wynn and traded for Trent Brown to compete for the left tackle spot. If both Wynn and Brown do extraordinary in the training camp and preseason, Patriots would start Wynn at left tackle and Brown at right tackle where he has played very good so far in the NFL. With Wynn and Brown taking care of the outer part of the line, I believe for the interior, Joe Thuney will continue playing at left guard, David Andrews at center, and Shaq Mason at right guard. As for backup, the Patriots will have Marcus Cannon and LaAdrian Waddle for the tackle position, Ted Karras for the guard, and James Ferentz for the center position.

  In terms of overall talent, the Patriots have somewhere between the third to the fifth best offense in the league. However, in terms of chemistry, experience, and playing great in crucial situations, they have the best offense in the game. The Patriots' offense in their last six postseason games has averaged 32.6 points per game while scoring thirty plus points in five of those games. It is not easy to even put up twenty points in the postseason, yet Tom Brady and the Patriots regularly score over thirty points against any defense in the playoffs.

  So the offense was in good shape last year and it looks good this year as well. What about the defense? The Patriots finished top five in scoring defense in the regular season and played decent up to the Super Bowl game. Then, we saw what happened! Right after the big game, a lot of us expected the Patriots to completely change their starting lineup of the defense, and add in ten to twelve new players to the rotation. Well, the Patriots aren't everybody. They know that the defense didn't play so well in the postseason, but they know it only requires couple changes in the players' rotation and defensive scheme to fix the play of the defense. As I mentioned earlier, they went out got players like Danny Shelton, Jason McCourty, and Adrian Clayborn in free agency, while seeing players leave or retire like Malcolm Butler, James Harrison, and David Harris in the first two months of the offseason. Then, the Patriots drafted Duke Dawson, Ja'Wahuan Bentley, Christian Sam, and Keion Crossen. So the Patriots' defense let three players go and brought in seven new players, which is the right amount of player turnover they needed on defense. Also, the Patriots have Derek Rivers, their first pick in last year's draft returning. Here's my starting lineup for the Patriots defense:

Front Four - Malcolm Brown, Danny Shelton, Adrian Clayborn, and Derek Rivers.

Linebacker - Donta Hightower, Kyle Van Noy, and Ja'Wahuan Bentley.

Secondary -  Stephon Gilmore, Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty, and Jason McCourty (maybe Duke Dawson instead of Jason).

  Do the Patriots have an extraordinary defense? No, but is it better than last year's defense? We will get to see that in the next five to six months, but with the additions of Danny Shelton and Adrian Clayborn, and with Derek Rivers returning healthy, I see the Patriots bring in a lot more pressure to the quarterback than they did all of last year.

  On special teams, the Patriots still have one of the best kickers in the game with Stephen Gostkowski, and they still have a reliable punter with Ryan Allen. The Patriots in the offseason were able to keep Mathew Slater, who is their special team's captain and their best blocker/tackler in the return game. Finally, the Patriots added Cordarrelle Patterson to return kicks and punts. He is going to be the difference maker on special teams this year. He has great speed and elusiveness to return a kick or a punt, all the way into the end zone. Patterson will give Tom Brady and his guys short field to work with on offense.

So can Tom Brady and the Patriots win another Super Bowl?

New England Patriots overall roster looks really good to me. They certainly have the roster that could beat anyone in the AFC. The only AFC teams as of right now I see challenging the Patriots are Jacksonville Jaguars, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Los Angeles Chargers. I also think that the Houston Texans and the Oakland Raiders could be two teams who could surprise many in the AFC. Competition could get tough for the Patriots in the AFC, but if they play with the revenge mentality like they did in 2016, I see the Patriots steamroll to the Super Bowl. In the big game, the Patriots could face teams like Philadephia Eagles, New Orleans Saints, the Los Angeles Rams, or the Minnesota Vikings. These four teams are better than any AFC team the Patriots will face, but there is no guarantee that the survivor of the NFC will be fresh for the Super Bowl game, as these teams are going to beat each other up to get to the Super Bowl.

  So yes, I could see Tom Brady holding his sixth Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 53, at Mercedez-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Georgia.