By the looks of things, there are going to be roughly 170-plus players on the field over the course of Thursday’s preseason opener between the Patriots and Redskins. I’ll let you in on a little secret — you don’t need to watch them all. It will be important, however, for you to keep an eye on a handful of players and/or positions, as battles for playing time and roster spots continue to be waged in New England. Here are 10 we’ll we’ll be watching come kickoff Thursday night.
Brady heads into another preseason opener Thursday. (Adam Richins/Boston Sports Journal)
Tom Brady: Bill Belichick
Danny Etling:
Brian Hoyer
too
Julian Edelman:
How much will rookie Isaiah Wynn play Thursday? (Adam Richins/Boston Sports Journal)
Isaiah Wynn:
Trent Brown
Punt returner: Cordarrelle Patterson
Patrick Chung
Braxton Berrios
Riley McCarron
Cyrus Jones
Corey Bojorquez:
Stephen Gostkowski
Running back, other than James White:
Jeremy Hill
Mike Gillislee
Sony Michel
Ralph Webb
Rex Burkhead
Who doesn’t play:
Harvey Langi
Marcus Cannon
Brian Schwenke
Jason King
Matthew Slater
Kenny Britt
Trey Flowers
Cyrus Jones
Jonathan Jones
Nate Ebner
The back end of the depth chart at corner:
Duke Dawson
Keion Crossen
J.C. Jackson
Jason McCourty
Deatrich Wise (91), Adrian Clayborn (94) and Geneo Grissom (96) run through a pass-rush drill last week in practice. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The pass rush:
Adrian Clayborn
Derek Rivers
Deatrich Wise
Adam Butler
Trey Flowers