New England Patriots: Mac Jones and the mastery of quarterbacking
New England Patriots plusses and minuses on offense that will impact Mac Jones
First, the positives:
The Patriots offensive line is top-notch, arguably one of the best in the NFL. At the NFL level, it’s pretty nearly as good as it gets. While they lost All-Pro Joe Thuney to free agency, they have last season’s super rookie Michael Onwenu to slot in at left guard if that’s their choice.
The preference here would be to use Trent Brown at offensive left tackle where he played for the team in 2018 and move Isaiah Wynn over to the right tackle slot.
Since that’s not likely, Wynn starts at left tackle. Onwenu takes Thuney’s place at left guard. Pro-Bowl-level center David Andrews is back. At right guard, the Patriots field the excellent Shaq Mason.
That’s quality all across the line and it will be a big benefit to Newton and Jones if he plays at all this season. It’s a big plus for either.
Then, the Patriots have a good running back room with Damien Harris coming back, Sony Michel as a backup, and the draftee Rhamondre Stevenson as a big, short-yardage back. That’s solid, but there’s no Najee Harris, the best back arguably in the draft there either.
On the plus side, however, the Patriots have one of the best pass-catching backs in the business in James White. For whatever reasons, White had a subpar 2020 yet still caught 49 passes.
That’s a super year for a usual back. White’s far better than that. He’s one of the very best at catching the ball out of the backfield.
The previous year he caught 72. He’ll hopefully be back at his best in 2021. That’s a big plus for the Patriots’ offense.
The next plus, and it’s another huge one, is the tight ends. Since the departure of Rob Gronkowski that unit has been a disaster. Waiver wire types or low draftees first, and higher draftees last season failed to deliver.
That all changed in free agency when the teams loosened owner Bob Kraft’s purse strings and brought in two of the best on the market, Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry.
Combined they caught 101 passes. That just a “slight upgrade” over the total of 18 caught by last season’s unit.
Now, the negative
Some have suggested that on the outside at wide receiver, Jones had a better crew at Alabama than New England does now. Let’s not go there.
Suffice it to say, in Davonta Smith, Jaylen Waddle, and a third guy, the terrific John Metchie III (likely next year’s plug-and-play All-American), he had a wagon load of talent. The Patriots don’t.
While they added Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne to Jakobi Meyers, they also lost their best receiver, Julian Edelman to retirement. At best, they are still a below-average receiving corps.