The New England Patriots were ready to be "aggressive" in their pursuit of a trade and extension with San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
Ultimately, even a framework and a boatload of cash were not enough to convince Aiyuk to continue his career with New England. As a result, the Patriots reportedly backed out of negotiations on Tuesday night.
What did that prove? Players don't want to come to the Patriots like they used to.
FS1's Colin Cowherd broke down the situation and felt that the Patriots adding Aiyuk made sense given the history of wide receivers. Ultimately, the deal never came to be and Cowherd sees this instance as a greater trend in recent years. Cowherd sees a comparison between the post-Tom Brady era in New England to the post-Michael Jordan era for the Chicago Bulls in the NBA.
"To me, the Patriots are becoming the Chicago Bulls post-Jordan," Cowherd argued on "The Herd" on Wednesday. "It's not just that the Bulls couldn't win. They went from totally cool to the most uncool franchise in the league. ... That's what the Patriots have become with Brady. Brady's so great, he made you forget how badly the Patriots drafted the offensive side of the ball."
Cowherd added: "They went from the smartest, most-efficient franchise to like 'can't figure out how to run the VCR in the 80s.' They don't even know what they're doing."
With another instance coming up just short of a top receiver, the Patriots have work to do to keep improving the offense.
