There are plenty of simple and advanced metrics for judging how good a team is, but today we’re looking at the other end of the spectrum. Everyone knows who the best teams are in the NFL, but it’s a little more difficult to truly judge the bleak, the putrid — the teams lacking wins right now, and hope in the future.
It takes a special degree of complete ineptitude on an organizational level to become locked in the doldrums of systemic mediocrity, and to this end we need a rating scale to evaluate how bad the worst teams are in some key areas.
- Future at quarterback (0-15): A higher number denotes an organization with a solid plan at quarterback, or a player with a future to lead the team beyond 2024.
- Roster quality (0-25): How many star players does a team have, or how many other players with promising futures does a team have at non-QB positions.
- Coach quality (0-15): The quality of the team’s head coach to mold the roster moving forward.
- Front office ability (0-20): Does the team have a solid front office in place who can be trusted to make changes and sculpt the roster?
- Ownership (0-15): Is there ownership in place to make sound decisions?
- Future assets (0-10): Does the team have future draft picks or cap space that could help build a roster?
Naturally a higher score is better. The closer to a 100 rating, the more of a future the organization has, and the less bleak they are. To be clear: This is rated against their peer group of losers, not the entire NFL. For example, getting a 10+ on quarterback doesn’t mean the team has a Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes in the wings, but rather that they have someone capable of moving forward with compared to the other bleak organizations.
New England Patriots
It’s clear that New England is a team looking to grow. This is year one since the monumental shift away from Bill Belichick, and we knew this was always going to be ugly until they find their footing.
The saving grace for the Pats is that Drake Maye has shown major flashes of being a potential superstar at quarterback since taking over the starting job. Also Jerrod Mayo seems in lock-step with the idea that the team needs to get tougher. When you combine that with solid ownership and front office support it paints a picture that might take a couple more years to complete, but it’s already looking quite good.
QB: 13
Roster: 10
Coach: 12
Front offic