FOXBORO — No one is particularly optimistic about the New England Patriots’ offense in 2024. With the regular season just weeks away and several question marks at key positions, expectations for the Patriots to score points this season are low.

How deep? Right down.

The concerns in New England are numerous and quite justified. First of all, the new head coach Jerod Mayo is a defensive player, and the offense is in the hands of offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, who not while he was OC for the Browns, calling offensive plays in Cleveland.

Mayo spent most of the summer building up Jacoby Brissett as the team’s starting quarterback, but recently opened the door for third-round pick Drake Maye to be the team’s starter in Week 1. But with a lack of firepower in the receiving corps and a lot of uncertainty on the offensive line, starting a rookie quarterback in Week 1 may not be the smartest move for New England.

Add all that up, and the Patriots will likely have one of the worst offenses in the NFL in 2024 – if not The the worst, as The Ringer predicts.

In a column titled “How Will Every NFL Offense Perform in 2024?” The Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia essentially ranked all 32 offenses for the new season. The New England Patriots are at the bottom of the list, behind even the Carolina Panthers.

“There are corners of the internet where you can find optimism about the Patriots’ offense. This is not one of those places,” Kapadia writes.

The only hope for the Patriots offense is that Maye comes in and has a CJ Stroud-like impact, but Kapadia doesn’t expect that to happen, considering what would surround the rookie.

“Rookie quarterbacks are almost impossible to evaluate. But most rookies are mediocre at best. And considering the Patriots’ overall offensive situation, it’s hard to argue that Maye will succeed – if he plays at all,” Kapadia wrote.

Kapadia points out that New England’s tackle situation — currently with Vederian Lowe at left tackle and Chukuma Okorafor at right tackle — “might be the worst in the NFL,” with the offensive line overall ranking somewhere in the bottom five in the league. And while the Patriots have some promising receivers in rookie Ja’Lynn Polk and DeMario Douglas, no one in the receiving corps will have the game-winning impact the offense so desperately needs.

“Brissett has been a competent starter in the past when the circumstances around him were good, but the circumstances here may be the worst in the NFL,” Kapadia concluded.

Last season, New England’s offense averaged a dreadful 13.9 points per game, tied with the Panthers as the worst team in the NFL. It was painful to watch the Mac Jones/Bailey Zappe-led offense barely gain any yards, let alone score any points.

It’s scary that some experts believe the Patriots offense will be even worse in 2024.