*heavy sigh*

After being reported yesterday afternoon that the New England Patriots were one of two finalists in the Brandon Aiyuk trade sweepstakes, reports now indicate that they are out.

Patriots' newly named Executive Vice President of Player Personnel, Eliot Wolf, declared earlier this offseason that the Patriots needed to "weaponize their offense". In a time of transition with another bleak season on the horizon, this was extremely exciting to hear as a Pats fan.

However, in the draft, they went chalk, taking a relatively vanilla pick in Drake Maye, who is unlikely to start for most of the season, and struck out trying to sign Calvin Ridley.

Some draft capital was spent in the 2nd and 4th rounds on receivers with high upside in Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker respectively. And, the team re-signed Kendrick Bourne. Good foundational moves to start building an offense, but not exactly hubba hubba or what anyone would call "weaponized".

The reports midday Monday of the Patriots being in serious contention to land second-team All-Pro Brandon Aiyuk was the best chance at Wolf's weaponization. And, admittedly, another shot for me personally at getting some Arizona State redemption.

Brandon Aiyuk was drafted 25th in 2020 by San Francisco just one year after the Patriots surprisingly used their 1st round pick on another Arizona State wide out… N'Keal Harry.

In four seasons, Aiyuk has caught 25 touchdowns for 3,931 yards; he also has rushed for 62 yards and two touchdowns. In four years, Harry has caught 5 touchdowns, ran for zero, and has just 714 yards receiving. While the competition faced by the former Sun Devils differs, as does the year of their drafts, it is pretty clear that the Patriots got the wrong one out of Tempe.Understandably, the idea of landing another Sun Devil, and one who actually has NFL talent, was exciting to me.

However, I think the Patriots would have been making a poor decision trading and paying top dollar for a WR when there are questions at quarterback (who knows how Maye will play), certainties at offensive line (it is bad, 31st in the league bad), and possibilities at wide receiver (Polk and Baker could develop and Bourne might be a worthy #1 wideout).

Still, it was fun for a few hours to have hope New England might land an offensive star, something that happened very infrequently over the last few decades. As a newly bad NFL team, it is important to have hope, and to remember the words of Andy Dufresne: hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. Lets hope the Pats can win six games and there can be some excitement on Sundays this fall.