Patriots Preview 2022: Five Breakout Candidates For New England

There’s a lot of doom and gloom surrounding the New England Patriots. And that’s probably fair, considering Julian “Foxboro Forever” Edelman just admitted to being alarmed by what he’s seen from the team’s offense.

But let’s take a deep breath and dish out some positivity, shall we?

No one should make the case that the Patriots have as talented of a roster as the Buffalo Bills. And, honestly, you could argue the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets both have more high-end talent than New England. But that doesn’t mean the Patriots don’t have players who could develop into legitimate stars.

So, let’s go over five potential breakout candidates for the Patriots in 2022.

Rhamondre Stevenson, RB
Damien Harris likely will enter the season as the top running back, but it might be Stevenson’s job by the midway point of the campaign — especially if he earns more snaps on passing downs. The second-year back arguably is the most talented player on the depth chart and possesses a blend of speed, power and creativity, and that makes it easy to envision him becoming a lead back. That said, his upside in 2022 could be significantly limited by the performance of New England’s shaky offensive line.

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Christian Barmore, DT
The 2021 second-round pick was a force during his rookie season, establishing himself as one of the more promising young defensive linemen in football. And Barmore looked even better this summer. A clear favorite of Bill Belichick, Barmore is an explosive, physically imposing player who just oozes confidence. The big thing for him this season will be holding up in the running game. If Barmore continues to improve in that area, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he eventually supplants Lawrence Guy as a three-down lineman alongside Davon Godchaux.

Kyle Dugger, S
To be frank, we might be concerned about Dugger if he doesn’t have a breakout campaign this year. The third-year pro has all the tools necessary to be one of the very best safeties in the NFL. There are plays he makes that few in the game are capable of, and he regularly leaves his teammates in awe. But Dugger also has been scratching at the surface of stardom since late in his rookie season. That he hasn’t reached it by now isn’t quite worrisome, but it’s getting there. This might be the year everything finally clicks and Dugger ascends to a Pro Bowl level.

Mac Jones, QB
Currently, Jones probably ranks somewhere in the mid-teens among the NFL’s best quarterbacks. He’s slightly above average, which really is all you should hope for from a quarterback entering his sophomore season. But if he improves in Year 2, we easily could be talking about a top 10-ish quarterback. That would make him a borderline star. However, there’s no denying Jones didn’t look like the same player this summer, largely due to the Patriots’ many other issues on offense. New England must do everything it can to put Jones in a position to succeed.

Mack Wilson, LB
We could’ve gone in a few different directions with this spot, but we picked Wilson. Acquired from the Cleveland Browns in the offseason Chase Winovich trade, Wilson has the kind of speed and explosion that the Patriots have sorely needed at linebacker for years. He was a bit up and down during training camp, but Wilson really started to pop by the end and is a playmaker in the front seven. If he can prove trustworthy in pass coverage, Wilson could see a ton of playing time and, in turn, develop into an impact player in the Patriots defense.