Patriots' thoughts on tanking 2023 season revealed

The New England Patriots suffered back-to-back blowout defeats in October and lost five of their first six contests ahead of this coming Sunday's home game against the 4-2 Buffalo Bills. 

It appears some within the Patriots want to wave the white flag on the remainder of the campaign. 

"Plenty of folks in the upper reaches of the building would rather have more losses than a win or two that could cost draft positioning," Patriots insider Mike Giardi of Boston Sports Journal reported Wednesday night. "In fact, some are already talking about next year. That's what 1-5 will do for you."

Giardi interestingly offered his take when the Patriots had 20 players listed on their midweek injury report and amid rumors regarding the future of struggling quarterback Mac Jones ahead of the Oct. 31 trade deadline. New England must pick up or decline the fifth-year option for 2025 attached to Jones' rookie contract next spring, and he's statistically one of the worst starting signal-callers in the NFL as of the beginning of Week 7. 

Per ESPN, Jones entered Thursday evening ranked 30th in the league among qualified players with a 36.8 adjusted QBR on the season. He threw five touchdown passes and seven interceptions across New England's first six games and could be replaced atop the depth chart by undrafted rookie Malik Cunningham as soon as this weekend. 

Walter Football and others routinely mention that the team with the rights for the first pick of next year's draft will use that asset to land USC Trojans star quarterback Caleb Williams. Heading into Week 7, Tankathon shows that the Patriots would own pick No. 6 of the 2024 draft if the season ended today. 

As of Thursday afternoon, OddsChecker listed New England as an 8.5-point underdog for Sunday's game against Buffalo. Assuming Giardi is spot on, some within the Patriots seemingly are hoping Vegas is right and also looking for the club to plummet to the basement of the overall league standings by Week 18.