There are a lot of problems for the New England Patriots to fix this off-season, especially on offense. While there are a lot of free-agent wide receivers and pass-catching tight ends on the market at the moment, they may not be as keen to go to New England as in previous years.

Tom Brady was always a great reason for players to sign with New England and after his recent Super Bowl success and the likes of Danny Amendola’s comment that the Patriot way was the Tom Brady way, players will be questioning if they can win with the Patriots.

There is no sign yet of who will be throwing the ball in New England in 2021, and it’s probably a situation the Patriots will need to address first in order to try and attract other players. The Patriots finished third to last in receiving yards behind the Baltimore Ravens and their divisional rival, the New York Jets. 

While they did finish last season at 7-9, there are reasons to be optimistic about next season.

For a start, they have the third-best cap space in the league with over $60 million to play with. This should give them lots of space to grab who they want and be able to get some veteran players in. Last season they also had the most opt-outs of any team, with 8, and now they have key players Marcus Cannon, Dont’a Hightower and Patrick Chung set to return. So with these players coming back, cap room to play with and the upcoming draft, the Patriots have every opportunity to make some key moves to become a playoff contender next season. But they really need to address the situation at quarterback to get some confidence in the direction of the team.

In typical New England fashion, it’s very hard to get solid information on what their plan is going forward but there is a lot of talk about Jimmy Garoppolo or Marcus Mariota. Jimmy G had a great relationship with both Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, but it seems as though San Francisco intends to keep Garoppolo unless they can pull off a blockbuster trade for Deshaun Watson.

This means Mariotta is looking like a good option as the Las Vegas Raiders can get decent value for him to use in other areas. Mariotta obviously has his own issues but he has been unlucky with a lot of changes at the offensive coordinator position and has also played with offensive lines that ranked in the bottom 4 in the league during 3 of his seasons with Tennessee. Mariotta’s ability to run and move outside the pocket would also mean the offensive scheme doesn’t have to move too far away from packages they ran with Cam Newton.

Due to the lack of chances given last season,  it’s safe to rule out Jarret Stidham altogether. If they run out of options then Cam Newton might still end up as their quarterback for next season, which would not go down well with many Patriots fans.

Newton's throwing mechanics looked very poor last season and he consistently missed open receivers, making the offense very predictable as they were forced to run often. There is the possibility that another off-season with the team could help him, and if some dangerous receivers are added then things could change for the better, but Cam needs to impress quickly in training camp, wherever he ends up.

Of course, the other way they can get a quarterback is through the draft. Mac Jones seems to be most people’s guess due to the Nick Saban and Bill Belichick connection but the big question is whether he will fall to 15th in the draft. If not, will the Patriots make a move to go up and get him?

The Patriots were even seen at the Trevor Lawrence pro day last week which would indicate that they really are assessing all options.

Overall, it looks like the Patriots need to go back to the future a bit.

Just like when Tom Brady won his first 3 championships, they will need an excellent defense to help a young and inexperienced quarterback. We could be looking at them taking a chance with the likes of Mariotta while also drafting a quarterback for the future. Taking Mariota and having Mac Jones ready to go behind him would probably satisfy most Patriots fans, while also giving free-agent receivers some hope of a dangerous offense. Blend this with a classic Bill Belichick defense and the Patriots fans might have something to look forward to this coming season.