Mike Vrabel walked into what appeared to be an unfavorable position when he accepted the head coaching role with the New England Patriots earlier this year. Based on how the once-dominant team has performed over the last five years, it didn’t seem like a desirable job to take. However, with high draft picks and a substantial amount of cap space to spend, plus the green light to drastically upgrade the roster, it made it easy for Vrabel to accept the position.

It was clear early on that he took that opportunity and ran with it, adding impressive talent on defense in free agency and star-studded offensive players in this year’s draft. The upgrades have prompted plenty of excitement for the upcoming season, with many analysts projecting that the Patriots could make the playoffs and even have some new stars take the spotlight on the roster.

While all of that remains true going into training camp, there are still a few spots on the team that have some concerned about the immediate future, particularly on defense. Although talented players were brought in to bolster the almost nonexistent pass rush, perhaps not enough was done.

The latest projections, according to ChatGPT, for the season appear to confirm this, unfortunately.

The Patriots might need to add more dominant pieces on defense to really put the roster over the top

With so much excitement surrounding the 2025 season, analysts and fans alike have taken to making their predictions for what might unfold.

Patriots Wire’s Cam Garrity achieved this by using ChatGPT to predict the stat lines for some of the team’s most impactful players. The projections for their pass rush aren’t bad, but not necessarily great either, seemingly proving they might need to add more help to the defensive line before the season begins.

• Harold Landry: 9 sacks, 2 forced fumbles
• Keion White: 6.5 sacks, 8 TFLs
• Christian Barmore: 5.5 sacks, 14 QB hits
• Milton Williams: 5 sacks, 2 FF, 9 TFLs

It’s certainly a positive to see so many players rack up sacks, which hasn’t been commonplace in New England for some time. However, it’s not great to see they’re still under double digits, and most end up around the same number by season’s end.

That doesn’t mean that the defense won’t be good, especially when you see the improvement by Keion White, the team-high sacks from Harold Landry, and the number of quarterback hits by the returning Christian Barmore. However, there were higher hopes for more production from the defense than these stats show.

It’s possible that this could be the case, and Garrity’s experiment with ChatGPT may not have been able to display all the statistics for every player on the defense. Players like rookie Joshua Farmer, Robert Spillane, and Bradyn Swinson were not listed, all of whom could have a tremendous impact on the defense’s production.

Nevertheless, there may be room for another high performer to be added to the group if they become available soon. It’s why the Patriots are likely monitoring the situations with the Bengals and Trey Hendrickson, as well as the Steelers and T.J. Watt. They could also look into signing some free agent talent, like Jadeveon Clowney, who could boost the group in a way they are hoping for.