FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- When a team's season ends with a dud like the New England Patriots experienced in the playoffs, the focus shifts quickly to potential fixes. Who might be available in free agency? What prospects could fit best in the draft?

It's an every-year cycle that can spark excitement and hope.

But a different area that is often overlooked in media coverage -- and is critical for coach Bill Belichick and his staff to drill deeper on this offseason -- is development of recent Day 2 draft picks already on a team's roster.

This rings especially true for the Patriots at linebacker, a position in which an infusion of speed and diverse skill sets is needed.

Did you happen to notice Logan Wilson of the Cincinnati Bengals buzzing all over the field in Super Bowl LVI? Not sure how anyone could have missed No. 55, and his performance (9 tackles, 3 for loss, 1 pass defended) provides a springboard to examine this area in which the Patriots are badly falling short.

Wilson is the Patriots' version of Josh Uche.

The 6-foot-2, 241-pound Wilson was a third-round pick in the 2020 draft out of Wyoming. He came off the board at No. 65, five selections after the Patriots traded up for the 6-foot-3, 245-pound Uche.

In the most important game of his team's season, Wilson played every snap on defense, an additional five on special teams, and was one of the best players on the field.

In the most important game of the Patriots' season -- the playoff matchup against the Buffalo Bills in which a goal was to aggressively rush quarterback Josh Allen with an element of vision and containment -- Uche was limited to just six snaps. Three of those were kneel-downs.

Yikes!

Wilson is also the Patriots' version of Uche's former teammate at Michigan, Chase Winovich.

The 6-foot-3, 250-pound Winovich was selected in the top half of the third round of the 2019 draft, No. 77 overall. Pass-rushing is his forte, and when he's at his best, he also flies around on special teams.

But in a game the Patriots had to win to continue their 2021 season, Winovich was a healthy scratch.

Not good.

Wilson is also the Patriots' version of Anfernee Jennings.

The 6-foot-3, 259-pound Jennings was a late third-round pick in the 2020 draft out of Alabama, No. 87 overall. The hope was that Jennings could be a physical, versatile player -- somewhat similar to Patriots veteran Dont'a Hightower, with the ability to play on and off the line of scrimmage -- but that hasn't materialized. He spent the 2021 season on injured reserve after not reporting to training camp in peak condition.

It's a hard truth, but the Patriots' recent Day 2 draft investments at linebacker have been wildly disappointing, and answering "why" is an important part of the team's offseason.

Because if the Patriots can't identify why -- with Wilson's Super Bowl performance a good reminder of the desired results -- the cycle is bound to continue in the wrong direction.

It's possible they simply picked the wrong linebackers. That happens to every team, and it's not like the Patriots haven't hit on Day 2 defenders at other positions in recent years, such as safety Kyle Dugger (2020 second round) and defensive tackle Christian Barmore (2021 second round).

But it's also possible that what the Patriots are doing scheme-wise is not allowing the natural abilities of young linebackers to be maximized. There's a reason they invested assets to move up the board for Uche -- he is an explosive player with a special ability to bend the edge as a rusher -- but there's been a disconnect somewhere in his draft-and-develop process that has resulted in those things not coming to the forefront consistently.

How much is scheme -- with Belichick often described as a "technician" prioritizing a "multiple" unit that adopts a game-plan approach from week to week -- part of that?

Plenty has changed since Rosevelt Colvin played linebacker for the Patriots (2003-08), but many of the same principles and fundamentals still apply. He shared insight on some of the obstacles facing young linebackers in the scheme.

"I had to learn that there are specifics Bill wants out of the defense. There's a process, and I would say for young people, the learning curve is understanding, 'Hey, it may not always be best to go 100 miles per hour.' Sometimes you have to take a step back and say, 'What is my role and how can I make everyone on the field better?'" he said.

Colvin, who arrived in New England in his fifth NFL season, tells a story from his first minicamp that captures the dynamic.

"I was blazing off the edge. It was similar to what I had done in Chicago; when I was up on the ball, it was more than likely a blitz. So I was like, 'I'm going to go blow this up.' And I was rolling. But Bill came to me in the middle of drills and said, 'Rosie, you can't do that.' I literally asked him why, because I was making plays. He said, 'You might have made that play, but if it was a pass instead of a run, we would have been in bad shape.'

"So I think for young guys, it starts with getting over the hump of 'what is my role and how do I play it to the best of my ability?' They have to know the basics. If they can't add and subtract, there's no way they're going to get to algebra. ... I would say it's not necessarily as complicated as people might think -- you have to be able to adjust, that's the biggest thing."

In one of his various media interviews last week, assistant coach Jerod Mayo noted that the Patriots are always looking "to get faster, more explosive, and put more playmakers on the field." The words stood out because the Patriots have multiple recent Day 2 draft picks at linebacker who fall into that category yet couldn't get on the field when it mattered most.

So before targeting who might help in free agency and the draft, the Patriots must first look within.