NFL Notebook: Patriots Camp Questions, No. 3 – Which players will be under the most pressure in camp? (updated)

Have to admit, it's been a rough week if you're a diehard NFL fan and want this season played to the conclusion. Covid-19 shows no signs of stopping, and there were a rash of opt-outs, with New England leading the way with seven (so far), after receiver Marqise Lee became the latest on Saturday to reach that decision.

UPDATE: TE Matt LaCosse became the eighth on Sunday, according to Field Yates of ESPN. More on that at the bottom.

Even Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford landed on the Covid-19 reserve list.

Great.

Then you have baseball's issues, thanks to the Marlins and Cardinals, that may push Major League Baseball to the breaking point as early as this week (Chaim Bloom is probably rooting for that at this point). That will lead to the inevitable comparisons to the NFL, because both sports will not be in a bubble.

I would, largely, ignore that nonsense. Why?

Not all situations are created equally. There isn't a professional sports locker room I haven't been in (even WNBA ... nice, plush robes for the players). Baseball's the least-educated locker room I've been in across sports, generally (obviously I've met some very smart baseball players). Why? Well, I'm sure it has something to do with baseball having the least amount of college graduates (about 4.3 percent) because many are drafted out of high school, sign in the middle of college, or are signed professionally as teenagers in their home countries (and the managers in charge of those locker rooms aren't much better, since many came from those same locker rooms).

The NFL has the most, at about 60 percent. Hockey is next at about 33 percent, and then the NBA at about 21 percent.

So does it surprise me that baseball is struggling with some of its players doing their part and acting professionally? No. (And we won't even get into the baseball in-season road lifestyle, which is vastly different than that of an NFL player.)

I would, however, be surprised if the NFL isn't infinitely better at behaving outside of a bubble because the players are more educated (even the rookies!). Plus, you have multiple coaches on each team that are very educated and smart. The NFL also has more control contract-wise than MLB and their land of bonus babies.

So when someone wants to make the joke, "Good luck NFL!" because of baseball's struggles, lay it out for them.

I think ... actually, I know ...  NFL teams will have training camps. The next inflection point for them will be the week of the opening games because once the NFL decides to start the regular-season, then there's no going back.

With that in mind, here's our pre-camp list of Patriots players under the most pressure to perform in this camp:

WR N'Keal Harry

With Lee now gone, the Patriots basically have zero boundary X receivers outside of the second-year player. At least Lee was a decent backup in case Harry pulls a hammy again or something — and I would expect them to go find another one at some point in any event. When it comes to being big and fast and a possible YAC machine (let alone his sensational boundary catches), Harry is a one-man-band. If he doesn't deliver and stay on the field, this passing offense could be ... well ... screwed.



WR Mohamed Sanu

This is mostly personal pressure because I think the Patriots could survive just fine without him. He has that $6.5 million cap hit hanging over his head, which could go to the coffers as soon as he's released. He's in a contract year. He was average in a good offense in Atlanta. He was average in an average offense here. He didn't put great film out there due to injury last year. If he's released and has to start over someplace else and then hit free agency, there could be a lot of crickets.



RB Sony Michel

Brandon Bolden's opt-out might very well lessen the chance of this, but if Damien Harris beats out Michel in this camp and becomes the starter ... exactly why would Michel need to be here (the same holds true for Harris if he doesn't do anything)? Patriots are going to need a lot more roster spots at TE, FB and maybe WR than they're used to — possibly OT after Marcus Cannon's opt-out. Is it out of the realm of possibility the Patriots could go with Starter X, Rex Burkhead, James White and UDFA J.J. Taylor (maybe another rookie from another roster also)? No, it's not.

LB Ja'Whaun Bentley

We've been over this a few times ... let's just say that inside linebacker room could be held in a Patriots Place phonebooth.



CB Joejuan Williams

Looked like the second-round pick improved over the course of his rookie season, but job security isn't great in that absurdly deep secondary if you don't come in and light the world on fire, like Jonathan Jones and J.C. Jackson have in recent years. Just ask Justin Coleman, Duke Dawson and Keion Crossen.



Edge Chase Winovich

Well, let's see ... Kyle Van Noy is gone. Jamie Collins is gone. And now Dont'a Hightower is taking the year off. Where's the pass rush going to come from if Winovich is not ready for a starting role? Actually, I don't worry about his pass rush, I worry about him setting the edge.

PK Justin Rohrwasser

Hey, Thundering Herd ... no pressure at all around here, where basically the Patriots have had 20 years straight of great placekickers. Probably wouldn't be the brightest of ideas to get off to a slow start in camp. I think the Patriots have Nick Folk on speed dial after that tattoo thing.



Edge Derek Rivers

The 2017 third-round pick has had a rough go, we all know this. It could get worse. Say he gets cut after the two weeks of real practices and he becomes a free agent. If he's really good in practice but loses a numbers game, other teams won't know — Rivers still has zero good film for other teams to look at. I'm sure he'll get signed to a practice squad just from a team's scout of him in college, but that would further kill is future hopes of becoming a consistent NFL player.



BONUS COACH PICK: Josh McDaniels

He was passed over this offseason for an HC position, mostly by bad timing and circumstances out of his control. He wasn't given much to work with last year and he couldn't make chicken salad out of chicken, well, you know. This year it's basically the same group with some rookie tight ends and a new right tackle. Oh, and he has to fit the offense to Cam Newton and/or Jarrett Stidham with hardly any on-field practice time (say nothing of losing players to positive tests) while fending off whispers about how it was all about Tom Brady. Going to be a lot of late nights in the OC's office at Gillette.

Who'd I miss? I tried to stay away from some obvious players, like the right tackles and tight ends (someone is going to play at either spot, and I'm not sure how much pressure they're going to be feeling). Also, I think we all know the QBs have something to prove. Let me know in the comments.

NICKEL PACKAGE

1. The Patriots far and away lead the NFL in opt-outs, and that will get people all nervous (fans) and excited (radio hosts) about what it might mean. Because it has to mean something, right? No, it doesn't. Everyone's circumstances are different. Three players — Dan Vitale, Najee Toran and Marqise Lee — probably had 50-50 odds at best at making the team, and might well have just taken the salary advance and hopes the NFL doesn't come looking for the money, or pays it back next year. Dont'a Hightower, Marcus Cannon, Patrick Chung and Brandon Bolden have multiple Super Bowl rings, and millions for at least the first three. If they were ring-less and playing out their rookie contracts before free agency, the decisions might have been very different. But they've earned the right to be cautious.

2. Hightower still hadn't filled out the paperwork as of Saturday night. That could be something, or he could be busy. Sounds like the NFL is going to put the deadline as Wednesday this week. So we'll know if he's changed his mind soon enough.

3. So much for Browns TE David Njoku being available for a trade.

4. I'm going to miss the Marqise Lee era, which goes right next to Reggie Wayne, Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Jordan Matthews, Corey Coleman, Andrew Hawkins ... which guy was the last one to work out — I'm talking guys sort of on their last go-around? Maybe spend more resources on the draft.

5. Well, now at least we get more targets and overblown tweets about Jeff Thomas, Will Hastings and JJ Taylor in camp. Those guys are going to be folk heroes in short order.

BONUS: You didn't see much from LaCosse last season because of the high-ankle sprain in the preseason affected him most of the season, so most will think this isn't a loss. But it is. Rookie tight ends in New England and elsewhere hardly do anything (Rob Gronkowski didn't do much until the end of his rookie season), and LaCosse was the perfect veteran Y tight end to bridge the gap and be the adult in the room with two rookies (Dalton Keene was probably going to be more of a fullback/H-back). I would expect the Patriots to bring in another veteran TE at some point because the Patriots can't rely on Devin Asiasi and Keene in a short training camp. Bring me Delanie Walker. This is probably very good news for Ryan Izzo.