We’re running a mailbag on Fridays during the season. If you have questions on the Patriots, NFL, or want gripe about past answers, email cmason@masslive.com or tweet @bychrismason. Now let’s get to this week’s questions!
Now that he’s been cut by the Broncos, is Russell Wilson a Patriots fit? — Matthew
No. This doesn’t work on any level.
First, Wilson isn’t even an average quarterback at this point. Stats never tell the whole story, but Wilson finished 21st and 27th in QBR during his two seasons in Denver, and diving into the film has been even uglier.
Wilson’s ability to extend the play was huge in Seattle, and at 35, he’s lost some of that escapability as his legs have started to go. As such, he took 100 sacks in his 30 starts with the Broncos, and there was very little payoff in the running game; this wasn’t 2014 Wilson who took 42 sacks but ran for 849 yards. Now he’s just holding the ball and getting crunched.
From a Patriots perspective, Wilson doesn’t fit into the current plan of drafting a rookie quarterback and letting him season behind a veteran mentor. Some crazy stories of Wilson as a teammate have come out of Seattle — he blocked their cell phone numbers and used Pete Carroll as a mediator — and when he was benched in Denver so his contract wouldn’t vest, did any of the Broncos protest? Nope.
That’s not who I’d want shepherding a rookie into the league.
And finally, why would Wilson want to come to the rebuilding Patriots? It doesn’t make sense from his perspective. New England isn’t terribly enticing given a potential placeholder quarterback role and their lack of weapons to boot.
So no, although those Legion of Boom teams were fun to watch in Seattle, Wilson doesn’t check any boxes for the 2024 season in New England.
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If the Patriots do re-sign Michael Onwenu what do you anticipate his contract looking like? Given how much money we have, should we feel optimistic about it? — Conor M.
I’d ballpark either a three-year, $48 million deal or four years at $60 million.
Onwenu is a homegrown success story and plays a position of dire need, so I think the Patriots will do just about everything they can to bring him back. Both Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf underscored his importance at the NFL Combine last week.
“Mike’s a core player for us. It’s no secret we want to try to keep Mike,” Wolf said. “Mike’s really smart. He’s introspective and he’s thoughtful. He knows what he wants, which is always good when you’re dealing with a player. He’s certainly someone that we view as a cornerstone for us.”
What offensive tree does Alex Van Pelt come from. What have been his core offensive philosophy and will be a radical departure from the Belichick era? — Willy G.
Van Pelt is rooted in the West Coast offense.
With the Browns, Van Pelt operated Kevin Stefanski’s system, a run-heavy scheme that utilized play action and zone rushing. While the bones of that Cleveland offense will come to New England, Van Pelt is going to tailor things as he sees fit.
“I wouldn’t say same. Similar,” Van Pelt said. “I’d say there’s a lot of similarities. It’s the pieces of the puzzle. What’s available and how can we make those guys successful. But there’ll be similarities. I’ve taken pieces of a lot of different offenses over my time and melded those together in what’s best for us at that time.”
But yes, either way it’ll be quite a bit different than the Patriots offense under Belichick.
How soon will they show Bailey Zappe the door? — Roberta
I think it’s more likely that Bailey Zappe is on the Week 1 roster than Mac Jones. However, Zappe may be competing with Nathan Rourke for a third-string role this summer, presuming the Patriots do indeed draft a rookie and pair him with a veteran.
Is playing for Jerod Mayo a draw for free agents? — Vin P.
At this point, I don’t really think so.
Current Patriots love the guy, but that’s because they’ve already played for him. Word-of-mouth among players can’t hurt around the league, but Mayo isn’t established as a head coach yet, and he’s far enough removed from his playing days that there are very few guys left in the league that suited up against him. He’s kinda caught in no man’s land.
In your opinion, are the Patriots gonna be contenders or pretenders in signing meaningful free agents? — Ed H.
Somewhere in the middle.
I think they’ll land one top-of-the-market guy and then wind up fishing on the middle shelf from there.
How much do the results of the NFLPA survey and a lack of uncertainty/unproven coaching effect the Patriots ability to attract quality free agents? — Darryn W.
Ultimately, money talks.
While I’m sure the Patriots would rather have a more experienced head coach/front office combination and better grades on the NFLPA report card, if they’re the highest bidder in free agency, they’re still going to land some good players. Sometimes it’s that simple.
