New England Patriots Record Prediction 2020

New England Patriots Record Prediction

People love to hate the Patriots and use any bad moment as an example for why it is the beginning of the end. While I can’t discount them completely as long as Bill Belichick is the head coach, I think we will see the Patriots lose the AFC East for the first time in over a decade.

I’m not going to lie, it felt weird leaving the Patriots out of the playoffs in my NFL power rankings. They are proven winners, but the salary cap has finally caught up to them. People were shocked that they didn’t re-sign Tom Brady, but they couldn’t! At the time they had under a million dollars in available cap.

I have heard reports of the Patriots viewing Jarrett Stidham as their franchise Quarterback and I don’t buy it. I shrug those reports off as coach speak with the intention of drawing attention away from what I think will be an extremely disappointing season by Pats standards.

There are a long list of key players the Patriots lost this off-season to free agency. The most notable names are Tom Brady, Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins.

When the schedule released, it already raised a red flag for the upcoming season. The Patriots were given the hardest schedule in the entire NFL according to opponents 2019 record. Not only did their team get a lot worse, but the schedule put the nail in the coffin for me.

I’m not saying the Patriots are in re-build mode because a lot of their cap frees up next season, but this will be a one-year hiccup. There were talks about tank for Trevor Lawrence, but I don’t think Bill Belichick can lose that many games without losing his mind. I wouldn’t put it past him to completely shatter the expectations as he has done many times in the past, but it’s hard not to bet against them this season.

I think it will be the first losing season for the New England Patriots since the 2000 season. Wow!

Other 2020 predictions:
Denver Broncos
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tampa Bay Buccaneers