Training camp is coming. The New England Patriots' rookies will head up to Patriot Place within the week – due July 19 – with the vets on tap for July 26.
It’s time to dive into the roster, position by position, and rank the New England personnel at each spot.
On a daily basis, we will break down the spots, beginning today with the quarterbacks and following up with running backs, tight ends and receivers, offensive line, interior defensive line, edge players, linebackers and finally defensive backs.
We’ll attempt to take a less traditional look and lean towards an outside-the-box approach in what promises to be a pivotal year, not just for the franchise, but for the individuals involved – Bill Belichick first and foremost – from the ownership on down.
So it’s time. Let’s take on the most integral and spotlighted position on the field — the 2022 Patriots quarterbacks.
1. Mac Jones
Talk about an absolute losing proposition. Mac Jones was supposed to replace the guy who replaced the guy. The kid from Alabama really got a bum break when Cam Newton regressed, forcing Jones into the fray from the opening snap.
Not saying he wasn’t ready. The rookie certainly was. In fact, his early production, 16 TD passes and most dramatically eight wins in his first 12 starts, erased Cam from the memory banks of Pats fans everywhere.
Unfairly, the comparisons to god – not the god, a god – Tom Brady, were instantly conjured.
Down the stretch, Jones buckled, losing four of his last five and tossing seven picks.
Was it all the TB12 talk? Or growing pains? Or simply water seeking its level?
For a second-year guy, who made the Pro Bowl as a rookie – albeit through the back door -- Jones continues to face a wild barrage of questions.
At worst, he gives the Patriots a foundation. At best, he becomes the face of a champion.
Either way, the 23-year-old converted fitness freak (see his girlfriend’s IG @sophiescott9 for proof) provides the Patriots and Belichick what they desperately craved … hope.
Buy his stock: Jones wasn’t the dominant rookie QB of 2022 – he probably shared that title with Houston’s Davis Mills. Stop giggling or worse, cursing at me, and check the numbers.
Completion percentage - Jones 67.6, Mills 66.8
Yards per attempt - Jones 7.3, Mills 6.8
TDs/INTs - Jones 22-13, Mills 16-10 (11 starts)
Passer rating - Jones 92.5, Mills 88.8
All that said, Jones – because of his track record at Bama, because of Belichick, heck, because he’s with the best-run franchise in all of sports – has a huge opportunity for greatness, something Mills isn’t going to locate down in Houston.
And that’s why, all across the NFL, people are watching Jones’ every move.
In 44.5 states, they are petrified of what could be brewing here. In Mass., NH, RI, Maine, Vermont and half of Connecticut, they once again smell blood in the NFL waters.
Sell, sell, sell: Workout regimen or not, Jones won’t ever be confused with the game’s big arms. That’s God-given.
The “noodle-arm” thing could actually be real. Plenty of successful guys have worked around it and succeeded.
But it’s not a simple thing. And Jones exhibited some flaws in December and January when this team needed a playmaker.
Longo says: First time through the order, I was convinced that Jones was headed on a Chad Pennington-like track, complete with projected injury issues from the physical pounding he might continue to take.
But there has been plenty of downtimes, plenty of opportunities to re-watch every throw this kid made on the game field, from the preseason opener through the playoff debacle at Buffalo.
No, folks. I don’t feel the way I did watching Brady early in preseason 2001. Stop kidding yourselves.
But Mac has a similar Pentium processor for a football brain.
You could make a point that Jones’ most notable throw of 2021 went to the other team – the Micah Hyde interception in the playoff loss at Buffalo.
That wasn’t on Mac’s arm. It was on Mac’s drop, and it was fixable. The key to that play is to look right, at Hunter Henry in this case, to freeze Hyde, the lone deep safety in Buffalo’s cover-one set.
If Mac glances right on the drop, Hyde never gets to the ball before Nelson Agholor in the deep left corner.
Mac was a rookie. There’s no rookie that in the game with that kind of pocket subtlety. He has to learn. But that is fixable.
From this corner, most of Mac’s mistakes are.
He’s better than I originally thought. The ceiling is high, once again, in New England.
And that’s most likely the No. 1 story from now through the opener at Miami in September.
2. Bailey Zappe
The rookie fourth-round pick out of Western Kentucky appears to be less of a project and more of a prospect than it may have appeared.
New England moved on from Jarrett Stidham in May, meaning the kid might be an actual threat to stick.
Buy his stock: I know he’ll be seeing better defenses than the likes of Tennessee-Martin this year, but Zappe’s production in college (62 TDs and nearly 6,000 passing yards last year) can’t be ignored.
Sell, sell, sell: Stidham, Jacoby Brissett, Ryan Mallett, Kevin O’Connell, Kliff Kingsbury and Rohan Davey are Belichick’s middle-round (3rd, 4th, 5th) quarterback selections over the last 23 years. Is there any reason to think Zappe won’t land in the middle of this scrap heap?
Longo says: He’s only 6-foot-1, and who knows how he’ll handle the speed of the game, but the fact that he won’t have to divvy up backup reps with Stidham is an absolute positive.
Not saying he’s pushing Mac, but he’s going to have ample opportunity to keep Brian Hoyer up in the box with the other assistant coaches on Sunday.
3. Brian Hoyer
Give the guy credit. He’s going to draw a heck of a pension with 13 pro seasons under his belt.
Interestingly enough, over that time he’s thrown nine fewer TD passes than Zappe did last year at Western Kentucky.
Hoyer’s highly-paid coaching internship continues this year. He’ll mentor the youngsters and the newbie offensive coaches, never leaving his bubble-wrap cocoon.
Buy his stock: An undrafted free agent out of Michigan State, he’s somehow worked his way into one of the great, insignificant careers in league history. How can you not buy into him.
Someone needs to write this screenplay, although nobody with a lick of sanity would believe it.
Sell, sell, sell: Forever etched in all our minds is that gross mismanagement of the clock against KC in 2020.
Longo says: Nice guy, an important leader in the QB room, could play a pivotal role in the franchise's future. Just pray every day that he never, ever sees the football field with the outcome still undecided.