Bill Belichick Says Patriots Focusing on Young Players Due to Salary Cap Issues

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said Saturday that salary-cap issues have led to him utilizing more young players than usual this season.

In an interview with his former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis on SiriusXM NFL Radio (h/t ESPN's Mike Reiss), Belichick explained the challenges the Pats are facing this season: "This is kind of the year that we've taken to, I would say, adjust our cap from the spending that we've had in accumulation of prior years. We just haven't been able to have the kind of depth on our roster that we've had in some other years."

The Pats have won 11 consecutive AFC East titles, but they have struggled in their first season without quarterback Tom Brady on the heels of the future Hall of Famer leaving New England after 20 years to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

At 2-4, the Patriots are third in the AFC East behind the 5-2 Buffalo Bills and 3-3 Miami Dolphins.

In addition to losing Brady, several key defensive players left New England during the offseason. The departures of defensive tackle Danny Shelton and linebackers Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy left Belichick with more holes to fill than usual, and he has turned to younger players rather than veterans in many cases.

After dominating on the defensive side of the ball last season, New England has been ordinary in 2020. The Pats rank 17th in total yards allowed per game and 12th in points allowed.

The Patriots have also looked every bit like a 2-4 team on offense, as they are 24th in total yardage and 29th in scoring.

New England's passing offense has been especially off with just 197.2 yards per game, which is 28th in the league.

It initially looked as though the Pats would enter 2020 with 2019 fourth-round pick Jarrett Stidham as their starting quarterback, but they signed veteran Cam Newton to a bargain-basement contract instead and made him a starter.

That decision paid dividends early, as Newton played MVP-caliber football over the first three weeks, but he hasn't been the same since.

Newton missed the Pats' fourth game of the season after testing positive for COVID-19, and in the two games he has played since then, he has thrown no touchdown passes and five interceptions.

A lack of weapons has likely contributed to his lack of success, as veteran slot receiver Julian Edelman was placed on injured reserve this week and N'Keal Harry is injured as well. That leaves the Pats with an inexperienced group of pass-catchers, including Damiere Byrd, Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski.

Starting offensive linemen Isaiah Wynn, Shaw Mason and Jermaine Eluemunor have all missed time as well, which has made life even more difficult for Newton and the offense.

Belichick normally assembles a deep roster that can make up for some injuries, but the Patriots entered the season with virtually no margin for error in that department and have not been lucky on the injury front.

New England has a huge road game against Buffalo on Sunday, and if the Pats lose that game, they will be 3.5 games out of first place and may want to start thinking about selling at Tuesday's trade deadline.