It’s hard to believe that in just a little over two months training camp will open. Since the Pats bowed out to the Ravens in the AFC Championship game we’ve written plenty on where we thought the team should go, how they should evolve schematically and the kind of weapons needed to take them to the next level.

Here’s our review of the things we prescribed and what the team has done regarding those prescriptions.

1. Let Wes Welker Walk

Obviously this was not an easy conclusion to come to. Wes was an outstanding player, but ultimately it came down to:

It’s time for the Patriots to evolve their offense again. We’ve seen the peak of the Welker-based attack, and it was great, especially in the regular season against teams that were ill-equipped to defend it. But if you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse, and making another large investment in Welker will only delay the inevitable—at a detriment to the long-term viability of the team.

It’s unfortunate that Welker ended up with Peyton Manning, but it was the right move for the Patriots.

2. Rookies I Liked - Mock Draft Number One (2/4/2013) &  Mock Draft #2 (2/27/2013)

This might make me re-think all the draft research I do because in this first mock I nailed two of the Pats picks:

Aaron Dobson

On paper, Dobson seems to be the wide receiver the Patriots have been missing for both his ability to take the top off a defense as well as his size. 

Josh Boyce:

If the Patriots let Wes Welker walk they should likely bring back Julian Edelman for the slot receiver role, but with his injury history it would be smart to have some insurance for him. Boyce is a quick and physical wide receiver, and unlike Edelman or Welker, weighs over 200 pounds, so he should have the frame to hold up. Again, the biggest thing with the Patriots and receivers is whether or not they’re smart enough to play in the system, but Boyce is described as “competitive and a savvy route runner.”

We got progressively worse with our three mock drafts, but still nailed Logan Ryan in our second one.

Logan Ryan

Ryan excelled in a few of the events the Patriots like most. While his 4.56 40-yard-dash was average, he had the second-best defensive back time in the three cone drill and 60-yard shuttle, and the fourth-best defensive back time in the 20-yard shuttle. Couple those standout stats with his physical play, intelligence and association with one of Bill Belichick’s favorite college programs, and you have a prime Patriots draft target.

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Our Friday column is up and it’s all about Tom Brady and the impact of the revamped passing game on his legacy. Found some interesting stuff looking back at the number of top receivers other long-term elite quarterbacks had. This is really a chance for Brady to put the final nail in the greatest of all time debate.

New column is up at B/R, taking a look at five of the most popular prospects that fans and mocks have going to the Pats.

POST DRAFT ANALYSIS: Of these 50 prospects I had Logan Ryan and Aaron Dobson. Should’ve had Josh Boyce too but he was left off for some reason. More impressive is that of my three total mock drafts for B/R I nailed Dobson and Boyce in the first one, and Ryan in the second. Got nobody on the third, but I’ll take it. 2 out of 50 on the Big Board, 3 out of 15 on the mocks. Not bad.

For the past two years I’ve put together a Patriots-only big board, which is a collection of prospects that I think fit the Patriots. The goal is to nail as many Pats picks as possible on this board, so it’s less about the order of them, and more about who’s here and how they fit the Pats style. It’s heavily skewed toward what I see as the biggest needs, WR, CB, coverage LB, and then OL and S to a lesser level.

In 2011, I had four (Nate Solder, Ras-I Dowling, Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen) out of their nine. Including picking both Solder and Dowling in our one and only Patriots mock draft. Let’s hope I can get back to that kind of performance this year.

In 2012, I had just two (Chandler Jones, Alfonzo Dennard) of the seven picks. Debated long and hard over D’onta Hightower but ultimately left him off because he was too similar to Spikes, and really I think the Pats paid a little bit for having him and Spikes both out there together this year.

So here it is, our favorite 50…

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Our Tuesday piece for B/R is up, as sickness rages through the Ministry of PatsPropaganda. Our Hoodie who art in Foxboro, pray for us…

Wednesday Column is up at B/R! Drink it in.

Interesting to ponder… If Brady and the offense don’t miss a beat it’s the final nail in the Brady vs. Manning coffin.

It’s a sad day in Patriots Nation, losing their all-time leading receiver to Peyton Manning and the Broncos after six years together. Most of my big picture thoughts can be found here, and I also put together a big picture retrospective here, but now with the details of the deal in focus it clears some things up.

This was not about money for New England. Welker got a 2-year, $12 million deal, and New England was offering 2-years, $10 million. They could’ve easily afforded more, but their refusal to shows what they thought of Welker in their offense moving forward.

This was more about the Patriots wanting to take their offense in a new direction. We’ve seen the Welker-based offense for six seasons and four playoff runs, and it’s been the same thing… unstoppable in the regular season, sputtering in the playoffs, every year. The good physical teams could effectively slow down the offense, despite Welker still having the same stats he was getting in the regular season.

I believe the Patriots no longer saw the offense on an upward trajectory with Welker. They’ve been there, done that, and were ready to reduce him to a back-up role and pay him as such.

Welker was a great crutch for Brady. He was always healthy and always open underneath, and the result was an offense that could rack up 12-14 play drives eating defenses up 6-8 yards at a time. But against the best defenses that kind of continued execution becomes extremely difficult, and as we saw against the Ravens, Giants and Jets, once they began to slow the Pats down it just continued to snowball, leaving the vaunted Pats offense looking completely ineffective like they did in the second half of the AFC Championship.

You will never see an ill word spoken about Welker here. It was an awesome offense and his connection with Brady was special. But the part of me that loves football is excited to see how the Patriots evolve now on offense. They still have plenty of cap space and free agency options, and let’s not forget it’s not like their offensive weaponry cabinet is exactly empty.

The third and final act of Brady’s career will not be connected to the high-flying 2007 offense or the surgical blitzkreig of 2010-2012. It will be something new, and something designed to avoid the pitfalls that kept the Pats from closing the deal from 2007-2012.

It’s sad to see as great a Patriot as Wes go, but it will be exciting to see what’s next.

Our Friday column is up at B/R, examining why the Pats are smart to play the waiting game. Next week should be crazy…