In the New England Patriots preseason opener, some surprising stars emerged. These no-names will be hoping to make a name for themselves in the regular season.
Preseason football can be a mixed bag. You may see some players who will blossom into stars, or you may see players who will be out of the league in a few weeks. On Thursday the New England Patriots played their first preseason game and had some impressive performances.
Patriots fans didn’t get to see Tom Brady or Rob Gronkowski, but they got to see Julian Edelman for the first time since his knee injury last preseason. Also, some rather surprising stars emerged in the 26-17 victory over the Washington Redskins.
Who is Ralph Webb?
Before Thursday’s game, I would have thought that Ralph Webb was one of those generic players on Madden, but Webb is quite the opposite.
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Webb started the preseason with a bang. Besides Jeremy Hill, Webb was the star back on Thursday night.
Webb helped carry the Patriots to a win on Thursday by scoring two touchdowns in the second half. He ran the ball great and was very effective coming out of the backfield.
In his college days, Webb was one of the best college backs in SEC history. At Vanderbilt, he had 931 carries for 4,178 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Webb is the 6th best rusher in SEC history ahead of some all-time greats like Emmitt Smith, and Shaun Alexander, as well as New England’s first-round draft pick Sony Michel.
Before Thursday’s game, Webb was listed as the 9th running back on the Patriots depth chart. I think it’s safe to say he should be a bit higher up by the Patriots next preseason game.
Ja’Whaun Bentley was a defensive stud
A possible leader emerged on defense on Thursday night. Ja’Whaun Bentley had a fantastic game and was acting like a leader on and off the field. Bentley had the green dot on his helmet and was barking out orders on defense.
Bentley ended the game with 6 tackles including 2 that were in the backfield. If he continues to perform well he definitely has a spot on the Patriots final roster.
The Patriots linebacker group stepped up last season. With the position getting ravaged by injuries last season, some depth players stepped up to the plate.
Bentley was drafted in the 5th round by the Patriots and is currently a 3rd string linebacker. Some stars emerged last season so Bentley will have to continue to put in work if he wants to get some playing time.
If Bentley continues to perform like he did on Thursday night, that shouldn’t be a problem.
The practice squad star
Devin Lucien was drafted by the New England Patriots in 2016. The Patriots put him on the practice squad, but due to injury the Patriots were forced to leave him off the squad in 2017.
Now Lucien is back with the team, and he returned with a bang. On Thursday night, Lucien had 4 catches for 71 yards. He was far and away one of the best recievers out there.
I hope to see Lucien on the practice squad or maybe even the final roster. The Patriots need all the help they can get at wide receiver with Julian Edelman suspended for 4 games.
Now these guys need to keep up the good work. Anyone can have one good preseason game, but if you put together a solid 4 weeks of work it is hard to deny your skill.
The New England Patriots play the Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch of last year’s Super Bowl on Thursday. Hopefully these guys can continue to excel and make a case to land on the final roster.