3 moves Patriots must make to contend in AFC East after DeAndre Hopkins snub

Despite their interest, the New England Patriots weren't able to land star wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, as the player decided to sign a two-year, $26 million deal with the Tennessee Titans.

The Patriots hosted Hopkins on a visit and there was mutual admiration by the wide receiver and head coach Bill Belichick. Ultimately, the Titans became the heavy favorites to sign him for the most obvious reason: they offered him the most money.

After missing out on signing Hopkins, check out three moves that the New England Patriots should do to compete in the AFC East:

3 moves for the Patriots to fight for the division

1 - Boost their pass rushing group

It's true that New England struck gold last season with Josh Uche's breakout year, but they still don't have enough depth to compete in a division that has quarterback such as Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and Tua Tagovailoa.

The Patriots don't have an offense that's good enough to go head-to-head against their division rivals, so boosting their defense is a nice alternative. A possible free agent to add is Yannick Ngakoue, a proven player who would rotate nicely with Uche and star edge defender Matthew Judon.

2 - Get a new starter wide receiver

Signing Hopkins would fill a huge need on the roster: New England has many receivers who are consistent, but none of them is a real star, and JuJu Smith-Schuster has not proved himself enough in the league to earn this distinction.

There are no great receivers available in free agency anymore, so Bill Belichick and his team should look for the trade avenue. Since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are entering a rebuild (even if they deny this), calling the team and asking if Chris Godwin is available certainly wouldn't hurt anyone.

3 - Improve Mac Jones' protection

In 2022, Jones was the 11th-most sacked quarterback in the league - which is worrisome if you consider that he missed three games throughout the season.

Although the interior of the offensive line is well served, you can't walk into a season in such a difficult division and expect Trent Brown and Riley Reiff to do a solid job in 2023. Before September comes, New England needs to improve their offensive tackles massively after they missed the opportunity earlier in free agency.

Yes, you can blame Mac Jones for his 2022 struggles, but most of the offense simply didn't help.