Pro Football Focus identifies Patriots’ biggest weakness heading into 2023

The folks over at Pro Football Focus are assessing each NFL team’s strengths and weaknesses heading into the 2023 season, and for the New England Patriots the choice of weakness fell onto one particular position group: wide receiver.

According to PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Jim Wyman, the wideout spot is the biggest issue on the team at the moment:

Biggest weakness in 2023: Wide Receiver

The Patriots lack a receiving threat that keeps defensive coordinators up at night. They replaced Jakobi Meyers with JuJu Smith-Schuster in the offseason, but aside from some late-round fliers in the draft, they didn’t do much to improve an underwhelming group this offseason.

There is some truth to the Patriots not making any major upgrades at wide receiver this offseason; they brought in Smith-Schuster to replace Meyers, let Nelson Agholor leave in free agency, and added Kayshon Boutte and Demario Douglas late in the draft. Nonetheless, the team appears to be OK with what it currently has.

The bigger question mark might actually be a different position, though: offensive tackle. The team has no clear long-term options on either side, with the projected starting duo of Trent Brown and Riley Reiff both heading for free agency next year.