New England Patriots: 6 players who impressed in preseason debut

The New England Patriots had a dominant start to the preseason and got some stellar performances from a multitude of players.

Football is back (well sort of)! The New England Patriots kicked off the preseason and they kicked it off with a bang.

New England absolutely dominated the Detroit Lions in the 31-3 victory. You gotta feel bad for Lions fans. The season hasn’t even started and they have little to hope for.

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But Patriots fans are having a great Friday. There is a lot to be happy about.

The worry with a team that has been as good as New England has is maintaining success. It seems like eventually you have to fall off the cliff.

There will be a day when Tom Brady retires and so will other veteran leaders in the Patriots locker room. Fans are already prepping for those dark days.

Well, the future looks rather bright in New England. We got to see some of the team’s latest draft picks and acquisitions get some live reps in a game setting for the first time this year. New England didn’t disappoint.

From start to finish the New England Patriots dominated the Lions and showed that they were the better team. You couldn’t ask for a better start to the preseason.

When you play so well there is going to be some performances that are worthy of further discussion. So let’s talk about the 6 players from New England who made quite the first impression in Week 1 of the preseason.

N’Keal Harry

One of the most hyped additions to the New England Patriots roster was N’Keal Harry. If the Patriots select you as a receiver in the 1st round you must be special.

Harry had a solid start to his career. In his first preseason game, Harry racked up 2 catches for 36 yards. That may not seem like a lot, but Harry showed a lot of skill during those plays.

As the 1st quarter was winding down, Harry used his height to his advantage and leaped up to make a great catch. During this play we also saw how Harry excels at gaining separation from cornerbacks.

Harry was forced to leave the game after that play as he came up limping, but all signs point to everything being okay.

If Harry continues to play like he did in Week 1 of the preseason he will be one of Tom Brady’s favorite targets and a major part of New England’s offense.

Jakobi Meyers

There was already a strong case for Jakobi Meyers to make the New England Patriots final 53-man roster. Now it almost seems guaranteed that the undrafted rookie makes the roster.

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Meyers had a great start to his NFL career. He led the Patriots in receiving with 6 catches for 69 yards and 2 touchdowns.

One of the things that the Patriots love is how Meyers is able to catch everything. He was targeted 8 times and one of the incompletions that he had was actually an impressive play.

Jarret Stidham lofted a ball in the endzone and it looked like it would be an easy interception for the Lions. But Meyers was able to break up the play.

This just shows the football I.Q. that Meyers possesses. That play might have even made Bill Belichick crack a smile.

All signs point to Jakobi Meyers being another testament to the Patriots ability to spot talent.

Chase Winovich

Now there has been a lot of focus on the Patriots offense, but now let’s talk about the other side of the ball.

For the first time in a long time it appears that New England’s defense might be better than the offense. When you have Tom Brady as your QB it is hard for that to happen.

After the draft the New England Patriots were receiving a lot of praise for their selection of Chase Winovich. It looks like the pick was definitely worth it.

Winovich got to play in front of a familiar crowd. A lot of Lions fans probably saw Winovich play in college when he was at the University of Michigan.

It looks like Winovich will be a great edge rusher. He proved that he is able to get to the quarterback and cause chaos. On Thursday Winovich had 3 tackles (1 for a loss) and 1.5 sacks. For a rookie in his first game that’s much better than expected.

It will be interesting to see how much playing time Winovich will get in the regular season, but no matter what the New England Patriots should have a ferocious front 7.

Braxton Berrios

For some players this isn’t their first rodeo and that means there is even more to prove. That is the case for Braxton Berrios.

Berrios missed the regular season after being placed on Injured Reserve in September. The guy who was supposed to be the next Julian Edelman didn’t prove anything in 2018.

With all the talented pass catchers on New England’s offense, Berrios has to prove that he is more than a practice squad receiver.

Berrios had a nice start to 2019. On Thursday he had 3 catches for 45 yards.

Most of Berrios’ catches were some of the same routes that you would see Julian Edelman. When watching this 4th and 2 conversion you would assume Edelman was running the route if you didn’t see the No.14 on the back of the jersey.

Hopefully this will be a performance that Berrios builds off of. If he continues to improve I expect him to get some actual playing time this season.

Nick Brossette

Everyone was expecting to see this name here right?

I would be lying if I told you that I knew Nick Brossette was on New England’s roster. When You have Sony Michel and James White leading the way it’s hard to care about the depth guys on the roster.

Brossette got plenty of carries on Thursday. He led New England in carries with 22 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Patriots fans have seen plenty of running backs make a splash in the pan. Who could forget Ralph Webb last year?

It will be interesting to see if Brossette can find a way to make the roster. It’s a competition between him and Rex Burkhead.

Brossette would be a welcome addition to the backfield. He would become the only Patriots back that is at least 6′ tall. Even though the Patriots have some power with Sony Michel it would be nice to add some size as well.

Jarrett Stidham

The New England Patriots might have a quarterback battle for the first time in a long time and before you scream at me this doesn’t involve Tom Brady.

A challenger has arisen for the Patriots backup QB. It looks like Brian Hoyer will have to earn his job as Jarrett Stidham started his career off well.

On Thursday Stidham was 14/24 with 179 passing yards and a touchdown. He looked phenomenal.

Stidham’s arm is spectacular and he has been able to put the ball into some tight windows. If he keeps playing like he did on Thursday I think we might be seeing the last of Brian Hoyer in New England.

So as you can see the Patriots had a boatload of impressive performances on Thursday night. We will see the true cream of the crop in the coming weeks. Anyone can have one good game, but can you maintain that level of success and improve?

We will just have to wait and see if these guys are able to do so.