The NFL's 5 Most Improved Offenses Entering 2017

New England Patriots

Well, this is terrifying.

Per our numbers (and anyone else's numbers, to be honest), the New England Patriots have been an elite offense in recent seasons. They were fourth in Adjusted NEP per play last year after ranking third in said metric in 2015, but they've done a lot of that with less-than-stellar talent at the skill positions outside of Rob Gronkowski.

After this offseason, they are no longer hurting for ability at receiver and running back. The Pats done loaded up. Not only did New England trade for Brandin Cooks, they signed two super-efficient backs, coming to terms with Rex Burkhead and Mike Gillislee, both of whom are advanced-stats darlings, according to our metrics (h/t to our own JJ Zachariason).

The image below shows how well Burkhead and Gillislee fared in Rushing Success Rate -- the percentage of plays which positively impact NEP -- and Rushing NEP per carry.

The addition of Cooks by virtue of a trade with the New Orleans Saints results in the Pats getting a very good and very young (he is still just 23) wideout. Over the past two seasons, Cooks has finished 7th (2016) and 17th (2015) in Reception NEP. When you consider that those campaigns were his second and third seasons in the league -- meaning he's not yet entered his prime -- the numbers he put up are incredibly impressive.

New England did lose some talent, with Martellus Bennett and LeGarrette Blount bolting via free agency, but the Pats more than made up for those departures. We haven't even talked about Julian Edelman, Dion Lewis, Chris Hogan, Malcolm Mitchell or James White, all of whom are returning to the fold, and there's also that Tom Brady guy.

All in all, Brady has some big-time weapons at his disposal, and if Gronk can stay healthy, we could see some silly numbers in New England this fall.