It doesn’t take a gratitude junkie to know this Patriots season has been a present.
The Pats punched their ticket to the playoffs final week.
Drake Maye has an MVP award inside attain.
Mike Vrabel may be the subsequent NFL Coach of the Yr.
And the soccer gods have staged the Jets and Dolphins like bowling pins on the finish of the Patriots’ schedule, one of many league’s softest in years.
However within the spirit of giving, let’s hand out a couple of extra presents.
Merry Christmas, and have a contented New Yr.
Drake Maye: A house workplace
Maye would possibly miss out on the MVP this 12 months — he at present owns the second-best odds — however one other is, little doubt, on its manner.
Throw in a couple of extra Professional Bowl nods, years of jersey swaps, sport balls, different awards and shortly, a trophy case received’t be sufficient for all that greatness. Give the person who will quickly have every thing correct room to retailer all of it with a small residence workplace. So lengthy, that’s, any potential development on Fortress Maye doesn’t intervene along with his spouse’s now viral vacation sequence: Bakemas.
Mike Vrabel: A nutcracker
What do you name a ball-buster like Vrabel throughout the holidays?
Nicely …
Stefon Diggs: A revised contract
Diggs is owed simply $1.7 million assured during the last two years of his deal. That shouldn’t sit nicely with the Patriots’ No. 1 possibility, even when his $20.6 million base wage is commensurate with different extensive receivers of his caliber.
It’s time to sweeten this deal.
Athletic trainers: Sage
What occurred right here?
After having fun with many of the season because the NFL’s healthiest staff, the Patriots are actually affected by an infestation of harm bugs. TreVeyon Henderson, Kayshon Boutte and Jared Wilson all entered concussion protocol this week, whereas Milton Williams and Robert Spillane have been out for weeks.
Time to clear the trainers’ room, hand the workers some sage, a lighter and burn away no matter is haunting this staff. They should strive one thing, proper?
Marcus Jones: A Professional Bowl alternate
The phrase “snub” is used too usually this time of 12 months, significantly when followers or media don’t hassle to take away a participant off the Professional Bowl roster to make room for the participant they consider was wrongfully omitted.
So, let’s begin there. Bench Titans returner Chimere Dike — who has a slight statistical case over Jones — or Christian Gonzalez who, if we’re being sincere, earned his nod on popularity and maybe as a make-up name for final 12 months. Jones has been more healthy and extra productive than Gonzalez, whereas Dike just isn’t almost as impactful exterior of particular groups. The mix of Jones’ influence in two phases must be acknowledged.
Ship that man to the Professional Bowl.
Rhamondre Stevenson: An apology letter
Followers on this market and members of the native media wished to ship Stevenson packing after 5 video games.
Stevenson, if you happen to’ll recall, had a fumbling downside again then, identical as final 12 months. However the concept of reducing bait out of frustration was by no means sensible, nor affordable. Not that Stevenson minded, by the best way, assembly questions on his butterfingers head-on each time he was requested.
Since that tumultuous time (throughout which, I ought to say, I advised benching him for a sport), Stevenson has confirmed what ought to have been apparent then: he’s and was a greater participant than he was exhibiting. He scored a game-winning landing final week in Baltimore and has saved Maye from numerous crushing hits because the Pats’ finest again in blitz pickup. Maybe most critically, he purchased Henderson time to develop, which, it seems, was sorely wanted.
To not point out, Stevenson and Henderson are unquestionably higher collectively in a cut up backfield quite than both of them taking a lion’s share of the carries.
Harold Landry: A breather
Landry, a captain and beginning edge defender, has been enjoying on a bum wheel since Week 6 at New Orleans. That was greater than two months in the past.
His strain price is manner down (averaging 4.2 pressures per sport by way of the Saints sport and a pair of.5 since). His run protection is not fairly as regular. Landry wants time to heal for a important playoff run.
A primary-round bye would go a protracted approach to serving to him rediscover no matter type he can till the offseason.
The Krafts: A day counter
Set it to March 10, 2027.
Till that NFL formally units the date, that must be the beginning of the league’s 2027 calendar 12 months AKA the primary day Maye is eligible for a contract extension. Make it a lifetime deal for all I care. Pay him.
The earlier the Krafts can ink Maye to a brand new deal, the earlier the ache of paying what must be the NFL’s richest contract will start to ease (not that you just or anybody else ought to each, ever care about that ache, save for its cap implications. Like all quarterbacks, Maye is price greater than no matter contract he’s underneath as a result of he can be paid extra in a free market than he’s now in an artificially capped one just like the NFL). Maye would possibly quickly make upwards of $70 million per 12 months, if no more.
Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams and Bo Nix may even be open to extensions that spring. The earlier the Pats can lock down their face of the franchise earlier than they signal, the higher.
You: A house playoff sport
It’s been six lengthy years for the reason that Patriots kicked off a playoff sport at residence.
You do not forget that night time: Vrabel prowling on the opposing sideline, Tom Brady taking his remaining snaps as a Patriot. A fog and uncertainty hanging over a sport that finally pulled the plug on the best dynasty the NFL has ever seen.
However skies are clearer now in New England. The electrical energy within the stadium is again.
It’s time for playoff soccer to return to Foxboro as soon as once more.
