Some thoughts on this Monday:
1) Watching Sunday night’s showdown between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs was a reminder of how important it’s going to be for the New England Patriots to hopefully get things right up front along their offensive line.
The Eagles’ group was unbelievably tough when it came to bowling over Kansas City’s defensive front, with Philadelphia’s guys just absolutely steamrolling their way forward when they needed one yard. Quarterback Jalen Hurts also spent most of the night with a fairly clean pocket, enjoying plenty of time to survey the field as the Eagles’ offense controlled the clock and held the football for over 35 minutes.
While a big turnover by Hurts and questionable calls will be the topic of discussion in Philadelphia, here in New England it’s a reminder that with a formidable group up front, it’s certainly easier to run your offense when you can both protect your QB and inflict your will on opponents.
The same could be said for the Chiefs, with former Patriots offensive lineman Joe Thuney improving a group in front of Patrick Mahomes, who outlasted Philadelphia and ended up on the right side of Sunday night’s outcome.
With Adrian Klemm now in the fold for the Patriots as offensive line coach, hopefully, this is an area where we see a bigger improvement in 2023, with possibly some youth and potential free agents on the way to add some depth at the tackle position, which was definitely a problem last season.
Either way, it’s a reminder that when you have a unit as solid up front as we saw from both teams, it’s certainly easier to move the football and score points. Hopefully, we see an improvement there for Bill Belichick’s club by the time we see them again six months from now.
2) Another area of interest is going to see if the Patriots can add some additional size alongside Christian Barmore on the defensive line.
Anyone who remembers the early Super Bowl seasons likely recalls the days of when the Patriots had a formidable group inside that just made life miserable on opposing offenses.
One of the best duos we saw over that span was Richard Seymour working alongside Ted Washington, which was an unbelievably tough pair. The Patriots were ranked 4th in the NFL in 2003 in rushing defense during the regular season and postseason, and finished with a league-best 12 sacks in the playoffs, including four against Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme in the Super Bowl.
While the focus will clearly be on the offense during this offseason, it will be interesting to see if Belichick decides to go a little old school and continue beefing up the interior portion of his defensive line.
The last time the Patriots had a young quarterback, that strategy certainly worked out pretty well.
Meanwhile, they definitely enjoyed a pretty good year as it was last season. The Patriots finished sixth in the NFL in average rushing yards per game and eighth in total yards per game in 2022. Seeing them solidify that group even further by infusing additional youth up front certainly wouldn’t be a bad thing.
Meyers is a free agent this offseason. (PHOTO: David Dermer-USA TODAY Sports)
3) Watching Eagles receiver A.J. Brown last night, it’s sort of hard not to wonder how much better Mac Jones and the offense might look with a big playmaker among this group next season.
Clearly, the hope was that Nelson Agholor could be that guy but obviously, his production never matched his salary. As a result, they’ve had a group of pretty good skill players, but no one that really made life difficult on opponents.
To add to that, Jakobi Meyers is set to hit free agency this offseason, which could see New England be on the verge of potentially losing its leading receiver to another team while still lacking a quick, shifty player to replace him.
You’ve got Kendrick Bourne, who is a fast, athletic player, but Meyers is a guy who knows how to get open and he and Jones clearly have a lot of trust and a good relationship.
The two also connected in key moments last season. Meyers led the team with 16 first-down receptions from Jones on third down last season, along with two touchdowns, well ahead of the next-closest player in Bourne, who had six catches that moved the sticks from Jones on third-down in 2022, including a touchdown.
If the Patriots and Meyers can somehow reach an agreement to keep him here, the next question would be whether or not New England can make a move to acquire a formidable playmaker that would suddenly make both Bourne and Meyers that much more dangerous.
The team making a potential Randy Moss/Wes Welker/Chris Hogan type of trade would certainly be a solid addition, with a move like that allowing the Patriots to grab a player potentially on a rookie deal who could be a year or two away from cashing in during free agency, while potentially upgrading their passing attack.
The Eagles did that with Brown last April. It clearly paid off, as Philadelphia was one Hurts fumble away from potentially cashing in with a Super Bowl championship.
With a young quarterback in Jones, the Patriots need to surround him with weapons the way that other teams have done around the league. We’ve already seen plenty of NFL teams in recent years do the same, and the results have seen several of them also have success in the postseason.
Given that Belichick is potentially heading into what’s essentially a critical year for both he and his quarterback, how they approach the offseason and the roster will likely make this one of the most interesting ones yet for a team that has slid a bit, having not won a postseason game in over four years.
Jones has already been hard art work this offseason. (PHOTO: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports)
4) It’s been good seeing Mac Jones already digging in and getting back to work, with a recent video from strength coach Nic Shimonek showing Jones working hard and preparing for the upcoming season.
The video shows Jones doing various workouts, clearly working on his core and improving his arm strength.
This is a key season for Jones, with the former standout from Alabama heading into what is likely a season that will see the Patriots ultimately decide whether or not they’ll be picking up his fifth-year option after this year.
The addition of Bill O’Brien is certainly going to make this season an interesting one. While the two have a relationship going back to the time they spent as Jones helped him get acclimated in the Crimson Tide’s offense, how it all translates between them here is going to be the thing we’re all watching.
What should be a positive is the fact many of the concepts that O’Brien will likely be implementing should be ones Jones is familiar with. The two clearly speak the same language, with Jones being able to discuss things they did at his alma mater that O’Brien will be able to relate to.
But what’s going to be the most interesting is seeing how the two work together during the first sign of adversity. Both Jones and O’Brien are intense competitors, with neither clearly shy when it comes to expressing any frustration.
The hope is that things won’t get to that point, especially with Jones now working with an experienced play-caller who knows how to navigate through all of that.
For now, Jones is already putting in the hours as he continues getting himself physically ready for a season that will hopefully leave people with more answers and fewer questions than what we saw in 2022.
5) Also already back at work is Bailey Zappe, who posted a recent video of he and Tyquan Thornton holding a recent throwing session.
Zappe is coming off of his own solid rookie campaign, with the former Western Kentucky quarterback filling in well during Mac Jones’s absence last season after Jones suffered a high ankle sprain during New England’s loss to the Ravens in Week 3.
Like Jones did following his rookie campaign, Zappe is also likely going to get stronger while working on his own issues, which included a low release point that was exposed during the second half of his final game action against Chicago this past season.
The rookie had several passes batted down that night, and finished the final two-quarters of the game 9-of-16 for 76 yards and two interceptions.
Anyone who recalls when Tom Brady suffered similar issues likely recalls that Brady spent a lot of that offseason throwing with large paddles in front of him to try and alter how he was also throwing the football.
As for Zappe, while he doesn’t have Brady or Jones’ height, he’s a little stockier, which is going to be interesting to see where he’s at strength-wise compared to Jones by the time training camp rolls around.
While Jones is clearly the favorite to be the starter next season, that’s not to say that Zappe couldn’t possibly make things interesting, especially if Jones struggles to begin the season.
It’s not often that you have two fairly talented guys on the roster at quarterback and the Patriots are fortunate that heading into 2023, it’s a luxury they’re probably happy to have.
Zappe’s already had a nice offseason, having seen his former high school retire his number during a recent ceremony last month.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
