The Patriots are In-Betweeners

      

          As summer wraps up and I’m almost back at university, the only thing on my mind is football. More specifically, the only thing on my mind is New England Patriots’ football. Although normal football is already back, American football is closer than we might think. The preseason is rolling through and week one is in just sixteen days (as of the date of writing this). With that in mind, I thought I’d roll through my excitements and concerns surrounding my team, the New England Patriots.  

Stability Through Stagnation

To say that the 2022 Patriots will look a lot like the 2021 Patriots is pretty accurate. The offseason was highlighted by underwhelming draft picks and big offseason departures. There was the addition of deep threat, DeVante Parker, which might excite some fans, but my concern lies in the departures of Shaq Mason and J.C. Jackson. While first-round pick Cole Strange might fill the void, the much-touted Patriot offensive line struggled at times last year. They fell all the way from third to ninth in PFF’s offensive line rankings with the aforementioned Mason being their second highest ranked offensive lineman. While the ascension of Mike Onwenu and the addition of Cole Strange might provide some help, it’s basically the same or possibly worse than last year. With regards to the rest of the offense, it’s basically the same. James White retired and they brought in Parker. Other than that, it’s the exact same group. Rookie wideout Tyquan Thornton will miss at least eight weeks and wouldn’t have gotten much run in an already cluttered wide receiver room. On offense, the story really is just to run it back.

One might like to point out how Josh McDaniels left and how that could yield some change, but his replacements are Joe Judge and Matt Patricia. Both Judge and Patricia are back in New England following disappointing head coaching stints in New York and Detroit, respectively. It’s the classic story of the Patriots rotating their own guys in and out of their staff. While it’s great to have McDaniels gone, as his mostly conservative and inconsistent playcalling prevented Mac Jones from truly shining at times, it’s not much of a change from the overall playstyle. There’ll be less third-down screens and short passes and maybe some more deep balls, but this is still an offense that’s reliant on Damien Harris, a strong offensive line, and crafty creativity from underqualified skill players. 

Where the Patriots might’ve improved, despite shedding veterans and their best player, however, is defensively.

I Feel the Need, the Need For…

The theme of the Patriots' offseason, at least on defense, was to get younger and add speed. Their 47-17 pouncing in the 2021 Wild Card Game at the hand of their division rival Bills was bound to have a profound impact on the offseason. Correctly, the Patriots identified that the problem in that game was not the offense, but the defense. Their front seven, more specifically their linebackers, got ran around in that game and were flat-out embarrassed on every occasion. They were old and slow, while Josh Allen and company are young and fast. That dynamic, especially in a sport like football, just isn’t survivable. Out are Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy, and Jamie Collins and in Josh Uche, Mack Wilson, and Ronnie Perkins to prominent roles. The Patriots didn’t have much money to spend, which is why they’re going to be banking on each young linebacker to break out. This doesn’t just include Uche, Wilson, and Perkins, though. The Pats will need one of Raekwon McMillan, Cam McGrone, Anfernee Jennings, or Harvey Langi to make a substantial impact. Outside of Matt Judon and Ja’Whaun Bentley, the linebacker and edge rusher group is very much a commitment to development. A lot of these guys have ridden the bench or served as primary backups to the veteran stallworths of the past. Now, the Patriots are banking on one of them to step up. This isn’t too dissimilar from what happened in 2020 when the Patriots leaned on backup Damien Harris after they ditched Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead and James White got injured. Now, the philosophy seems to be that one of the younger backups in the linebacker and edge core could step up like Harris did. 

In the secondary, it’s very much more trial by fire. After losing Jon Jones last year and having to rely on Jalen Mills as a CB2, it became very clear that this secondary was not deep enough to do anything past November. While JC Jackson was great, he’s now gone. Their real only saving grace carrying over from last year is the safety group. It’s not an exaggeration that the Patriots have the best collective group of safeties in the NFL. There might not have been a top three better than McCourty, Dugger, and Phillips and in 2022, there probably isn’t a top four better than those three and new addition, Jabril Peppers. They have versatile and experienced safeties to hold down the fort against a division that is looking extremely pass-heavy with Zach Wilson and Tyreek Hill poised to make their mark in the AFC East, plus an already established passing powerhouse in Buffalo. At corner, they seemed to just want to keep up with the Joneses (Sorry, I couldn’t resist), or at least try. They lost the superstar in Jackson, but regained Jonathan Jones from injury and added two intriguing rookies in Jack Jones and Marcus Jones while signing veteran, Terrance Mitchell. This is along with the already established Jalen Mills and the inconsistent, yet intriguing Myles Bryant. It’s a mish-mash group of versatile guys that will make for an interesting day-one lineup. Bill Belichick hasn’t really ruled out that Marcus Jones, who has been a camp standout, can’t start Week One. The likely group will be a starting battery of Jon Jones, Jalen Mills, Terrance Mitchell, and one of the others (probably Myles Bryant), but I wouldn’t rule out one of the other Joneses. With Malcolm Butler and Joejuan Williams out for the year, there’s a vacuum in the cornerback room and it’ll be interesting to see how the Patriots fill it.

Diagnosis

In summary, the Patriots are truly in-betweeners. They haven’t fully committed to winning, but definitely aren’t losers. They’re in line to finish second in the division again, and if Mac Jones makes a leap, they could make it past the Wild Card game. While they’re not contenders, they certainly are interesting in 2022. The offensive weapons have a ton of potential and the defense is a breakout or two away from being elite. There are a lot of “ifs” with the Patriots this year, but I’m looking forward to seeing how everything shakes out. We can speculate about stats, game logs, and training camp all we want, but there’s no real way to tell what’s actually going to happen. It’s why they still play the games. It’s why we still watch football. That’s sports.

Adam Zimmerman-Diaz

IG: @adam.zd

Twitter: @TheSatBlues