New England Patriots: How an NFL Lockout Could Hurt the Team in 2011 and Beyond

It's official—the NFLPA has decertified, and the owners have locked out the players, according to multiple media outlets. Although the 2011 NFL season isn't yet in danger, the threat of no football in 2011 is officially a possibility.

It seems, on the surface, that every team would be impacted evenly. Upon further review, it's pretty easy to tell how it would effect the New England Patriots maybe more so than some other teams.

The Patriots had a plethora of draft picks last year, and are once again in what would seem to be a favorable position headed into April's NFL Draft. They are setting themselves up to be one of the youngest teams in football.

Under normal circumstances, that would be a good thing, but the circumstances a lockout would provide would be far from normal.

An extended lockout could spill over into training camp, preseason and even into the regular season. This could begin to impact the amount of time the players have to study the system.

If the season is shortened in any way by a lockout, the Patriots' young players would be at a huge disadvantage. Last year's rookies need this training camp to build on the progress they made over the course of the 2010 season.

This year's rookies would be at an even bigger disadvantage, without a full offseason worth of OTAs and training camp to pick up what is often considered one of the more complex systems on both sides of the ball.

The very same characteristic of the roster that would put the Patriots at a huge advantage going forward—a position where growth in the system could lead to the forming of another dynasty—could be their demise in 2011 if the offseason is compacted into a smaller time frame.

Veteran teams will feel the effects far less than young teams like the Patriots. Those teams have players who are not only already ingrained in the system, but are also far more NFL ready due to years of study and conditioning at the NFL level.

A good example of a veteran team, sadly enough for Patriots fans, is the New York Jets.

As if you weren't already counting your prayers, lucky stars and anything else that might help there to be football in 2011...