3 Patriots Who Need to Be Benched After 0-2 Start
By Tyler Maher
It’s hard to believe we’re already in Week 3 of the NFL season, but the Patriots are still looking for their first win. Fans are already incredibly frustrated with the team’s 0-2 start after the Pats dropped a pair of close games at home to begin the season.
While New England ultimately went on to win the Super Bowl the last time this squad posted an 0-2 start to the year, it also had a young quarterback you might remember named Tom Brady. Brady isn’t around to save the Patriots this time, unfortunately, which means more drastic measures need to be taken if New England wants to save its season.
Several players have fallen well short of expectations so far and need to be benched before they cost us another game. Here are three Patriots who Bill Belichick should consider sitting for this week’s must-win matchup against the New York Jets.
3 Patriots Who Need to be Benched
1. JuJu Smith-Schuster
Unfortunately for New England, its biggest free-agent signing of the offseason already looks like a massive bust.
JuJu Smith-Schuster was brought in to be the team’s No. 1 receiver, but he sure hasn’t played like it. His first two games have produced just 61 receiving yards and no touchdowns on 9 receptions.
His meager 6.8 yards per catch is easily the worst rate of his career — well below his lifetime 11.8 YPC mark and 12.0 YPC figure from last season. If you’re not going to score (which JuJu doesn’t do — 3 TDs since beginning of 2021), then you at least need to rack up yards, and right now he’s not doing either.
Smith-Schuster simply isn’t adding anything to the offense right now. Perhaps his knee injury is holding him back, but if that’s the case then New England should get him some rest rather than forcing him to play through it. We want him healthy for the end of the season rather than blowing out his knee early on and missing the rest of the year.
Or maybe JuJu needs a benching to motivate him. I’m not sure, but all I know is that the Patriots better figure out what’s wrong with him and fix it soon before he ends up being a huge waste of money.