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*JimmyinSD* · (This post was last modified: 01-29-2026, 11:42 AM by JimmyinSD.)

[Image: sponge-bob-painful-rebuild-patriots-back...=555&ssl=1]

StickierBuns · 01-29-2026, 11:53 AM

(01-29-2026, 11:42 AM)JimmyinSD Wrote:

Yet Chicago and Washington are also going through a 'rebuild' and no Superbowl. The Patriots had the easiest schedule in the NFL and Bo Nix broke his ankle and Stidham made Brosmer look like an All Pro.

Always easy to use the anomaly instead of the norm. Patriots won 4 games the year before last...4 games the year prior to that....8 games the year before that. Think they might have had some opportunities to draft some good players? Yet Minnesota won 14 games the year before this last season.

hogjowlsjohnny · 01-29-2026, 12:00 PM

(01-29-2026, 09:11 AM)MaroonBells Wrote: Truer words...

If my options are Darnold at $40M per (the franchise tag, the only way we could've kept him), with the $40M cap hit that goes with it, and no one else....or JJ McCarthy going into his 2nd season in the offense, on a rookie contract, along with Kelly, Fries, Hargrave, Allen, etc...I think I make the same decision they did. I think most of us do. And it would've been just as "wrong" as the decision they made.

And while we judge the decision to go with JJ "wrong," it's an oversimplification that doesn't account for a few realities. For example, it doesn't take into account that JJ missed seven games due to injuries, stunting his development, and obviously not something that could have been foreseen by anyone. Still, he finished the year strong. In his last 4 games, he had 7 total TDs and 2 INTs. If you give him those 7 games back, I think the results we saw at the end of the year probably happen 7 weeks earlier, probably early enough to make the playoffs. And then are we even having this conversation?

In the short term, not keeping Darnold turned out to be a mistake. The long term is yet to be written. The majority of people on this board including myself felt letting Darnold go and going with JJ and investing in free agents was the way to go. At the time the decision was made, it was logical and correct.
History and hindsight rendered the decision incorrect. But you would have to have been some kind of soothsayer or psychic to see such a mess on the Oline and JJ's struggles coming.
Fans are left with another off season with a franchise QB question and Oline questions.
The Vikings have a pretty good team. Let's see if KOC can do for JJ what he did for Darnold.