Patriots $50 Million Veteran Called A ‘Detriment’ To The Team

Jonnu Smith faced serious backlash following his performance during Thanksgiving game. The New England Patriots offered him a four-year deal worth $50 million, but the veteran is now considered a “detriment.” Does it get any worse than this?

Head coach Bill Belichick had great plans for Smith. He had a brilliant performance over the years and the Patriots needed tight ends. Smith would have been a good fit for the team, but he turned out to be a major disappointment.

Smith and Hunter Henry were expected to become a frightening duo on the football field. Henry delivered decent performance, but Smith was a disaster. In 26 games with the Patriots, he had 28 receptions for 488 yards and a score.

Patriots veteran played like a “detriment” in the loss to Minnesota

Greg Bedard from The Boston Sports Journal had something to say about Smith’s disappointing performance in the loss to the Minnesota Vikings. Smith didn’t get much playing time and he wasn’t helpful at all.

In the 33-26 loss to the Vikings, the veteran played 16 snaps and didn’t have a catch. Patriots coaches asked Smith to block, but he failed to do his job.

“Jonnu Smith was a detriment in this game. He basically tackled [Rhamondre] Stevenson on a possible huge run.”

Bedard criticized Smith for his lack of execution in the second quarter of the game. This leads to an important question. Will the Patriots do an effort to keep Smith around after the regular season? He has a $17.4 million cap hit in 2023. Smith doesn’t have much time to show his dominant side. He looks like a shelf of himself. This may be his only opportunity to perform like the player Belichick thought he was signing last year.

NFL analysts agree that Smith is one of the most disappointing players on the Patriots roster. Signing him was a bad decision and the experiment didn’t work. Let’s see how things go for Smith. The Patriots lost a few games so far. They need their best players on the line. There aren’t many games left and they better start winning games.