A quality offensive line is crucial to winning games in the NFL. Just look at the two teams in Super Bowl LIX — both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles have excellent offensive lines.

The New England Patriots offensive line struggled mightily throughout the 2024 season in terms of pass protection and penalties. It was a major weakness for the team and contributed to New England finishing as the third-lowest scoring team in the league at 17 points per game.

How can the Patriots fix the offensive line before next season?

Ross Tucker, a former NFL offensive lineman who played for six teams (including the Patriots) in seven seasons, joined NBC Sports Boston’s Next Pats Podcast at Super Bowl Radio Row to give his take on addressing the o-line issues.

Tucker thinks the Patriots don’t have to build an offensive line full of stars to be successful. Average is far better than below average.

“(A lot of it depends) on the offensive line coach. But yes, I think it’s been proven time and again, you can have a competent offensive line, not dominant,” Tucker said.

“I say this all the time: You don’t need to have All-Pro or Pro Bowl guys. You just can’t have guys that are below average and are the reason why you lose. If you go back and you look at a lot of the Patriots’ good offensive lines, it’s not like they had a bunch of guys that were making the Pro Bowl every year, right?

“You think about Dan Koppen or Stephen Neal. Matt Light made some Pro Bowls and was a really good player. You just need guys that are good enough. I’d rather have five average offensive linemen than three above-average and two below-average, because with the two below-average guys, you’re going to kind of fall to your weakest link.”

The Patriots recently added former Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone to Mike Vrabel’s staff to work with the offensive line. He is an old-school kind of coach, which doesn’t always mesh with today’s players. But Tucker isn’t concerned that will be an issue with offensive linemen.

“I think with an offensive line, you still can (coach old school),” Tucker said. “I think there’s probably some other position groups where the old school style would not be easy, but with the offensive line I still think you can get it done.”

The Patriots have $120 million in salary cap space this offseason, which gives them the ability to make a splash in free agency. The best free agent offensive tackles include Ronnie Stanley, Alaric Jackson and Cam Robinson.

The Patriots also should select at least one offensive lineman in the 2025 NFL Draft. They have the No. 4 overall pick, and you could make a case that LSU left tackle Will Campbell is the best player to take at that spot.

Either way, it’s vitally important that the Patriots bolster their offensive line in the coming months. They need to protect young quarterback Drake Maye and give the wide receivers enough time to get open down field.