Bedard: Given lack of offensive additions, it's time to give Marcus Jones a full-time role on offense

What the Patriots have done with the offense personnel this offseason has been fairly underwhelming.

Yes, a competent coaching staff headed by Bill O'Brien and line coach Adrian Klemm will provide enough improvement to get back to near 2021 levels. But the offense is still lacking. They have decent weapons, and many of them, with DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Juju Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton, Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki. They might get a little pop from late-round picks Kayshon Boutte and/or Demario Douglas, but that's more down the line for youngsters feeling their way in the NFL. It's possible that Ty Montgomery stays healthy for a full season and is a Swiss Army Knife, starting at third-down back. You can worry about the offensive line all you want, but the Patriots made their choices and Klemm should make them decent if he is worth his contract.

Even though the great-on-paper defense hasn't dictated a game in years vs. a good offense/QB, the Patriots should be solid enough to be "competitive" — Bill Belichick's new favorite word — given the totality of all three phases of the game.

But that's a very thin tightrope they are walking. The personnel is good enough in all three phases that it will all come down to gameplanning and execution. The Patriots will have to knock it out of the park in both areas over 17 games in to truly contend this season. They have basically no margin for error, and that's because the roster doesn't have enough players that would truly be labeled playmakers. The more you have of those, the bigger the margin for error since you can make up for things in one play. If you don't, you're hoping for a lot of 12-play drives on offense, and hoping for a big mistake/holding to field goals on defense.

That used to be the formula for a lot of good Patriots teams with better personnel. Can this team live that way? They haven't since 2018 — and that run had no room for error, and needed unbelievably clutch play from the QB.

That's why they need to give themselves a little boost. After not importing any difference-makers on offense in free agency and passing on taking a chance on anyone the first two days of the draft, it's time to give the one guy on the roster who stands a chance to be that guy a real opportunity.

Enter Marcus Jones.

Up until the draft, I was all for giving him a real chance in the secondary, and at slot corner. Given time and experience, he could be really good there. Perhaps better than they've had in years.

But given what they've done on defense, and the lack of punch with the offense, Jones' ascension on defense can wait a year.

Inject this more into the offense.

As it stands today, no one else is doing that on this team. Smith-Schuster is not doing this. Neither is Parker.

Maybe Bourne, but even that's a bit of a reach. He can make someone miss, but he does not have this burst.

Thornton has the burst, but he doesn't have the elusivity yet. That could come in time with more playing strength.

I'm not totally discounting Pierre Strong out of the backfield, but he would need to prove that on the field. I have high hopes for sixth-round pick Demario Douglas. He does have this potential, but the chances of late-round pick from Liberty getting the call to do that more than once or twice a game are remote.

So the offense needs the help.

The defense? It shouldn't.

Now that Christian Gonzalez is here, and assuming he earns a starting spot — it would be a profound disappointment if he did not — the moves on defense should make Jones more expendable.

By re-signing Jonathan Jones, he can go back to being a No. 2 against two-receiver sets, and the slot against three wide receivers with Jack Jones being the second boundary corner.

Unless Marcus Jones is so much better than Jonathan Jones in the slot that he has to play there, Marcus should be unneeded at slot corner — and the Patriots tendered RFA Myles Bryant at the same spot as backup.

Add in that the Patriots have multiple players who could play cornerback or free safety — Jalen Mills, Jonathan Jones, Bryant — and all should stick on the roster because of their versatility, the Patriots have plenty of depth without Marcus Jones in the secondary.

Lack of options for playmakers on offense PLUS many options at cornerback should EQUAL Marcus Jones being given a real look on offense.

What I would really like to see is Jones used as the third-down back. Line him up in the backfield and then, depending on the matchup, motion him out of the formation. If the defense covers him with a linebacker or safety, it's game on.

For an offense searching for a weapon that causes issues for defensive coordinators ... Jones lining up all over the formation, especially on third down ... that's a problem, and one with no ready answers.

The Patriots, right now, have one guy that can do that — as we saw in a few tantalizing glimpses last season. Given the lack of moves this offseason, it's time to take that Ferrari out of the garage and give him a long look out on the road.

You can always take him back if you need to. But the Patriots owe it to themselves to put Jones to the test. The payoff could be huge.