New England Patriots football is just around the corner. While their training camp has been underway for some time now, New England’s first preseason game is less than a week away now, which will give us our first glimpse at what this team will look like this upcoming season.
Both players and fans are excited to see what the Pats will have to offer this upcoming season. They struggled for most of last season in the wake of Tom Brady‘s departure, but have seemed intent on fixing their mistakes from last season. Soon enough, it will be time to see whether or not all the work they put in this offseason will pay off.
The Patriots certainly put in work this offseason. They used their mounds of cap space to dominate free agency, and then followed that up by having one of the better drafts in the league. There have definitely been some bright spots throughout training camp as well, only building on the excitement.
For as much established talent New England has, they also have a ton of young talent too. Some players showed signs last season, or even this offseason, that they may be capable of stepping up and righting the ship this season. Here are three potential breakout candidates for the New England Patriots this season.
New England Patriots Breakout Candidate No. 3: Josh Uche
Josh Uche isn’t a household name for Patriots fans, but he may very well be in short time. Uche has been drawing praise at both minicamp and training camp for getting off to a hot start. Even in a revamped Pats front seven, Uche may be able to find a way to crack a spot in the lineup.
Uche’s numbers from last season don’t paint the picture of a player who may be set to breakout. He played in only nine games due to injury, and didn’t do anything in those games that really jumped off the screen.
However, even as he battled an injury, Uche gained valuable knowledge of the Patriots defensive scheme, and seems to be putting it to good use so far. He was said to be one of the top performers during the Pats minicamp earlier this summer, and he has continued to stand out in training camp thus far.
Uche has only been with the team one season after getting drafted in the second round last year, and he could be set to show the league his potential this season. He profiles as more of a pass rushing threat than some of his other linebacker peers, which could help him see the field more.
Despite missing a large part of last season, it’s become clear to observers what New England saw in Uche when they picked him up last offseason. Now with a full season under his belt and a successful offseason as well, Uche could be on the verge of putting all the pieces together and establishing himself as a vital piece of the Pats defense.
New England Patriots Breakout Candidate No. 2: Kyle Dugger
While Uche didn’t see much of the field during his rookie season, the same cannot be said about Kyle Dugger. The young safety saw action early and often, and showed the potential to develop into a star safety for New England.
When Patrick Chung announced he was sitting out last season, it thrust Dugger into the spotlight. Even with Devin McCourty and Adrian Phillips in tow, Dugger was often on the field for long stretches of the game, and he held his own for the most part.
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Dugger is fantastic tackler, as he accrued 64 on the season despite not being an every down player. Towards the end of the season, it was almost expected that he would burst through the line untouched and blow up at least one play run by the opposing team.
Despite that, Dugger still has some areas of his game that can be improved upon. He was occasionally a liability in coverage, especially against tight ends. Dugger has a bigger frame for a safety, but he has to learn how to use that frame to cover opposing players better this season.
Dugger showed enough last season to turn Pats fans that were skeptical of drafting the former Division II star into believers. Dugger’s tackling abilities show he has great anticipation, and an overall solid feel for the game. Those are intangibles that oftentimes cannot be taught.
With Chung now officially out of the fold, Dugger’s responsibilities will most likely increase. Admittedly McCourty and Phillips are still around, but that shouldn’t stop Dugger from seeing the field. If Dugger can fine tune some of the lesser aspects of his game, he could be set to make a big leap in year two of his career.
New England Patriots Breakout Candidate No. 1: Damien Harris
Maybe you consider last season to have been Damien Harris breakout season, but if not, he seems primed for one this upcoming season. The former third round pick waited patiently in the wings for basically the first season and a half of his career, before establishing himself as New England’s top running back by the end of last season.
Harris received only four carries his rookie season, and started off last season sitting behind Sony Michel. When Michel went out with injury, Harris stepped up and made the running back position his own. He picked up 691 yards on 137 carries, good for a solid five yards per carry, while also picking up two touchdowns as well.
Harris did all his damage in just 10 games, and ended up splitting time with Michel when he returned from injury. So far throughout training camp, it’s seemed like a pretty even split between the two so far, and that could be the way things start off this season too.
But if Harris is going to have a breakout season, he’s going to have to pick up yards on every carry, no matter whether or not he’s splitting reps with Michel. If he can take over the lead role at some point on the season, he will be in a great spot to hit the 1000 yard threshold.
In a relatively short amount of time. Harris basically established himself into one of the most effective running backs in the game. In his limited time last season, Harris graded out as a 90.3 according to Pro Football Focus, which was the second highest grade in the entire league.
Imagine what he could do over a full season.
If Harris doesn’t win the lead role by the start of the season, there’s a good chance he will at some point during the season. It feels like Harris is just waiting for the reigns to be fully taken off, and once he does, there’s a good chance he will develop into one of the best running backs in the game.