What is Patriots' Biggest Remaining Weakness?

The New England Patriots addressed their need at wide receiver and cornerback, but still have a glaring hole at offensive tackle.

The New England Patriots had some clear-cut weaknesses that they wanted to improve upon this offseason. Wide receiver and cornerback, to name two. But there was one that went unanswered, according to ESPN analyst Bill Barnwell. 

In a recent article ranking all 32 teams' offseason, in order of most improved to least, Barnwell had the Patriots at No. 16. Barnwell gave New England plaudits for hiring veteran offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien while giving him some more playmakers to utilize like JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mike Gesicki.

Yet Barnwell thinks the Patriots still have a problem at offensive tackle. 

"Offensive tackle is going to be a problem," Barnwell writes. "Can the Patriots make it through the entire season with Trent Brown and Riley Reiff? The two combined to play 32 games last season, but Brown had missed 24 contests over the prior three seasons with injuries, while Reiff hadn't played a full season since 2015 and was mostly a special-teamer for the first six weeks of 2022 with the Bears."

At best, the Patriots got sub-par play from their offensive tackles last season. Starting left tackle Trent Brown led the NFL with 13 penalties while giving up eight sacks before he was benched in Week 11. Then on the right side, injuries were a problem, as Isaiah Wynn played in just nine games, leaving the Patriots to rely on Yodny Cajuste and Conor McDermott to man down the right side of the offensive line.

Despite the obvious depth and performance concern the Patriots suffered from at tackle last season, they only opted to bring in two veterans, Riley Reiff, and Calvin Anderson, to help solve the problem. And judging by their position rankings via Pro Football Focus, they both ranked lower than what the Patriots already had. 

Reiff ranked No. 51 overall at tackle last season, while Anderson slotted in at No. 48, putting them behind Conor McDermott at No. 46 and Trent Brown at No. 43. 

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