The worst team in the NFL somehow just got worse for the 2024 season

The worst team in the NFL, the New England Patriots, somehow just got worse, and the 2024 season hasn't even begun yet. The Patriots have gone from the elite among the elite to the worst team in the NFL in just a handful of seasons. It's truly impressive how far they've fallen. New England entered the offseason with a ton of cap space and somehow managed to not appreciably improve their roster.

Two extensions going to Hunter Henry and Kendrick Bourne were massive overpays, but they did make one excellent move in extending stud OL Mike Onwenu for $19 million per season. One of their more steady players, guard Cole Strange, is set to potentially miss significant time in 2024:

This is horrible news for the New England Patriots, and this makes them that much worse. It's hard, but it's true. For the sake of their future, rookie QB Drake Maye should redshirt this year. And the consensus on Maye seemed to be that he does need a bit of work behind the scenes, so maybe we won't see him starting until 2025. And that might be for the better, as the Patriots OL is a giant mess now outside of center David Andrews and RT Mike Onwenu.

Well, the free agent market at guard isn't terrible. One name that sticks out is Dalton Risner, who recently played for the Minnesota Vikings after beginning his career with the Denver Broncos. Risner is a good enough player that should have been on a roster by now. But his infamous shove of former teammate Brett Rypien during the Broncos 2022 Christmas Day game seems to be lingering.

For the New England Patriots, their terrible outlook for 2024 just got even more terrible with the news that Cole Strange could miss significant time.