In this week's edition the NFL Notebook, we look at how much traveling the 2018 Patriots will do when stacked against previous years, what's up with the rest of the AFC East, and break down some potential start dates for training camp come July. But first, here are a few guys who are starting to see the stars align in their favor when it comes to making the leap from rotational players to big contributors come 2018.
1. With the constant roster churn from year to year, there are always a handful of players who are near the back end of the depth chart one season, who are then inevitably presented with an opportunity for more playing time the following year when starters and other established players move on. With that in mind, here are our three choices for Patriots who were part of the team last year and now might have the chance to go from a supporting role in 2017 to center stage in 2018.
a) Cornerback Jonathan Jones: A scrappy special teamer who played well on defense when given the chance the last couple of years, the departure of Malcolm Butler and the inconsistency of Cyrus Jones could open the door for a larger role this fall.
b) Defensive lineman Deatrich Wise, Jr: The Arkansas product, who is going into his second season, started really strongly last year but fell off late — he played over 50 percent of the snaps in a game just once after Dec. 1, and ended with 51 percent on the season. Part of that may have been due to the late-season arrival of James Harrison, but without Harrison in the picture any more and New England needing a pass-rush burst, it could be his time. In an ideal world, Wise could follow the career arc of fellow Razorback Trey Flowers, who went from being a similar type of situational guy in 2016 (53 percent of snaps) to being close to an every-down player in 2017 (76 percent).
c) Wide receiver Phillip Dorsett: Dorsett proved himself to be a good teammate last year, learning the system and making the most of his limited opportunities in his first season in Foxborough. An absolute burner, he showed himself to be a willing blocker and dependable third or fourth option in the passing game. The Patriots added Cordarrelle Patterson this offseason, but with Brandin Cooks no longer in the picture, he could get a shot at more time in 2018.
2. The quarterback news of the last couple days, as it relates to the Patriots, was interesting for a couple of reasons. One, Johnny Manziel, who had reportedly drawn the interest of New England, made the right move in agreeing to a deal with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats — go to the CFL for a year (maybe two) and prove himself to NFL decision-makers. Stay clean, be a dependable teammate, and show you can produce on a consistent basis, and then, give the NFL a shot. He’s only 25. There’s still time for a second act. (Just not in New England at this point.) And two, the Patriots worked out quarterback Austin Apodaca on Friday. (Not so sure the team was crazy about him alerting the media via his own Twitter account, but whatever.) The 6-foot-2, 210-pounder played for Washington State, Mesa Community College and New Mexico over the course of his college career. Before going unselected in last year’s draft (and spending some time in the CFL), he was with the Lobos for two seasons as a rotational passer. In that time, he completed 53 percent of his passes for just under 1,400 yards, with six touchdowns and eight interceptions. The biggest takeaway? It’s important to note that even though the draft and free agency are in the rearview mirror, team-building never stops. While the Patriots aren’t necessarily in the market to add to the quarterback room right now, they’re always considering their options.
3. On the heels of our question to David Andrews earlier this week — is Georgia the new Rutgers? — we broke down the Patriots' current 90-man roster by school:
Five: Georgia, Iowa.
Four: Rutgers, Vanderbilt.
Three: Arkansas, Florida, LSU, Miami.
Two: Alabama, Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, Brigham Young, Mississippi, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Purdue.
One: Brown, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Houston, Illinois, Iowa State, Kent State, Louisiana Tech, Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Monmouth, Navy, New Mexico, North Carolina State, Northern Illinois, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Oregon, Richmond, South Carolina, South Florida, Stanford, Stony Brook, Tennessee, Tennessee-Chattanooga, Texas, Texas Christian, Texas Tech, UCLA, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Western Carolina, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Youngstown State.
4. Had a few questions over the last week or so about the potential opening date for Patriots training camp. Per the CBA, the first possible practice of training camp can be held 14 days prior to each team's first preseason game. The Patriots’ preseason game of the summer is set for Aug. 9 at home against the Redskins, which means New England could theoretically hold its first training camp practice of the summer on July 26. (For what it’s worth, those dates are usually announced as early as mid- to late-June.)
5. You can argue about strength of schedule and its overall impact on a teams’ chances, but one thing that really isn’t talked about enough is air travel. While it doesn’t necessarily make or break a good team, it’s something that needs to be factored into the equation when you’re talking about the potential for a good year. From a New England perspective, the 2018 schedule makers were good to the Patriots, as they will play one of the most travel-friendly slates in recent team memory. By our calculations — thanks to Pro Football Reference — New England will travel 11,238 round-trip miles for road games in 2018. According to this chart (which had the Patriots at 11,078), it’s one of the lowest totals in the league. The longest regular-season road trip of the year for the Patriots will be to Miami (1,227 miles), the only journey that will take them more than 2,000 miles round trip. This year will mark their least amount of regular-season air-travel since 2010 when they logged 13,604 regular-season miles. Not coincidentally, that was another year when they faced the NFC North.
6. The addition of Joe Kim to the Patriots coaching staff this week was notable on a few levels: One, he and Bill Belichick have a history going back to Cleveland in the 1990s. When Kim joined the Browns staff, he recalled this conversation with Belichick: "Coach basically said, 'Hey, listen, I would really like to have you (be) part of this,'" he said, "because he said he believes in developing players and, back in the day he said, 'I think football's won with the one-on-one game so this type of thing is something that we need.'" Two, Kim also has a background with new Patriots lineman Danny Shelton. Shelton was reticent to talk about the importance of Kim on his career this week -- he said Kim was "a great guy ... but then again it's not my area to talk about him, so I'll just let Coach Bill have that. But he's a great guy" -- it’s clear that the two have an established comfort level. I’m not saying Kim was necessarily brought in to New England to give Shelton a hand. It’s just that this sort of thing is another way for a veteran like Shelton to get comfortable in a new system — something that’s been a bit of a challenge for him to this point, at least from a conditioning perspective.
Danny Shelton & Josh Martin work long arm/club from a fit & knowing when to club a forward-leaning, re-anchored blocker
?@masterjoekim pic.twitter.com/lpKycROC3I
— DLineVids (@DLineVids) April 16, 2018
