Trevor Lawrence, Clemson Tigers. (Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
Trevor Lawrence is the presumptive No. 1 pick of the 2021 NFL Draft, and the New England Patriots landing him is worst-case scenario for their opponents.
Bill Belichick landing Trevor Lawrence for his final act? Not bad. For the New England Patriots, anyway.
The football world expects Lawrence to be the top pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, with the junior out of Clemson finally becoming eligible after two fantastic seasons to this point with the Tigers.
However, not everyone within the league is excited about the prospect. Why? Because they’ll need to play against him, and maybe while he’s wearing the Flying Elvis logo on his helmet.
According to Mike Sando of The Athletic, there are teams worried New England will purposefully lose ample games this upcoming year to be in position for Lawrence.
Frankly, the worry s overblown. The Patriots aren’t anywhere near bad enough to lose enough games to be sitting with the No. 1 pick come next April.
New England doesn’t have much at quarterback — we think — in Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer, but it still has a good offensive line, Belichick on the sideline and a few playmakers on offense in Mohamed Sanu, Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry.
The Patriots also have a good defense even with the losses of linebackers Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins. The secondary has an argument to be the league’s best and while the pass-rush isn’t great, Belichick has long been terrific at manufacturing pressure.
New England is no longer a dominant team. It may well miss the playoffs. But the likelihood of the Patriots being worse than the Jacksonville Jaguars? Not great.