The Tennessee Titans have officially landed DeAndre Hopkins, ending one of the biggest free agent sagas of the offseason.
Throughout the offseason, several other teams were named as front-runners for Hopkins, including the New England Patriots.
While they were a named candidate to land him, ultimately, the Patriots went another offseason without adding a big-name free agent.
In a recent segment on “First Take,” Courtney Cronin detailed her disappointment in the organization.
“This is Bill Belichick dropping the ball, blowing it, and hurting his third-year quarterback in the process,” Cronin said.
“This is Bill Belichick dropping the ball, blowing it and hurting his third-year quarterback in the process.”
—@CourtneyRCronin on the Patriots not working out a deal to acquire DeAndre Hopkins pic.twitter.com/G5f3zdITlW
— First Take (@FirstTake) July 17, 2023
The Patriots used a first-round pick on Mac Jones during the 2021 NFL Draft, who has yielded inconsistent results thus far.
As Cronin points out, if the organization had added Hopkins, that move would have greatly benefitted Jones’ future.
At the moment, Jones doesn’t necessarily have an alpha receiver on the roster, which could be a part of his varied success.
The team did sign JuJu Smith-Schuster in the offseason, who at times, was effective for the Kansas City Chiefs last year.
However, he comes to the team with a lot of injury concerns, which could limit the amount of time he’s on the field.
Behind Smith-Schuster on the depth chart are DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton, and Kendrick Bourne.
Is this receiving cast enough for Jones to take another step forward in his third season?
The Patriots organization has become accustomed to winning, mainly due to the success that Tom Brady had in his tenure.
Jones has a lot of pressure on his shoulders that Hopkins could have helped alleviate.
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