Mailbag time. Let’s get right into your Patriots questions as New England prepares to visit Jacoby Brissett and the Cleveland Browns this Sunday.
@WarbucksDesign
Bad idea to start Jones over Zappe? Thoughts?
Unless Mac Jones is at or very close to 100% this weekend, I would start Bailey Zappe for at least one more game. I think it’s premature to say Zappe should permanently replace Jones after one solid game against a terrible and injury-depleted Detroit Lions defense, but he’s shown enough in his two appearances that the Patriots can afford to be patient with Jones, not rush him back before he’s ready.
If it’s a choice between a healthy Jones and a healthy Zappe? Then I’m taking Mac, no question. But if I’m the Patriots, I’d rather roll with the rookie for another week than put a clearly limited Jones out there against Myles Garrett.
@NewFinlandPats
Have you seen any indication that anyone besides J.J. Taylor would be trusted as the third RB behind Stevenson?
The Patriots apparently believe so. They officially promoted sixth-round rookie Kevin Harris from the practice squad on Thursday rather than promoting or temporarily elevating Taylor.
That was a moderately surprising move. Harris hardly flashed at all this summer before breaking out in the Patriots’ final preseason game, and Taylor is the more experienced option, having played in 11 regular-season games over the last two seasons. If injured starter Damien Harris can’t play Sunday — which reportedly is the expectation — both of Rhamondre Stevenson’s backups will be unproven rookie (Kevin Harris and fourth-rounder Pierre Strong). Strong has been on the 53-man roster since cutdown day, but his only offensive snaps have come on kneeldowns, and he was a healthy scratch last week, with New England choosing to bench him and operate with just two active running backs against Detroit.
The burly Kevin Harris (5-foot-11, 225 pounds) is more of a power runner than the diminutive Taylor, however, so the Patriots may view him as a better option to spell Harris on early downs. I wouldn’t expect him or Strong to have major roles this week, as Bill Belichick said he has the utmost confidence in Stevenson to perform on all three downs.
“As much confidence as you could possibly have,” the Patriots head coach said this week on WEEI, “that’s how much we have.”
Stevenson fantasy managers should be salivating this week. He should see a heavy workload and will be going against a Browns defense that ranks last in the NFL in Football Outsiders’ run defense DVOA and allowed 200-plus rushing yards in each of its last two games.
In an odd quirk, this actually is the third consecutive week that the Patriots have faced the NFL’s worst run defense by DVOA, as the Packers and Lions also ranked 32nd entering Weeks 4 and 5. New England exploited both of those mismatches, rushing for 167 yards against Green Bay and 171 against Detroit.
@STuBBs92
When is Nelson Agholor going to end up in Bill’s doghouse?
He has to be well on his way, if he isn’t there already. Belichick values ball security above all else, and Agholor has committed three turnovers in five games this season, losing fumbles in Weeks 1 and 3 and bobbling a Bailey Zappe pass directly to a Detroit Lions defensive back for an interception in Week 5. He didn’t play another snap after that latest miscue, but the Patriots later announced he had a hamstring injury, so it’s unclear whether he would have stayed in had he been healthy.
I’ll be closely watching how the Patriots divvy up their receiver snaps this week. Will they shift some of Agholor’s toward rookie Tyquan Thornton? He played 25 snaps last week in his NFL debut (mostly after Agholor left the game) but caught just two passes for 7 yards. Will Kendrick Bourne’s increased workload (season-high 34 snaps in Week 5) hold moving forward? New England got next to nothing out of any of its receivers not named Jakobi Meyers (8 total yards on three catches), though DeVante Parker did draw two defensive pass interference penalties.
@SamuelB13989273
What happened to LaBryan Ray? Injury on PS?
Ray missed several weeks with an undisclosed injury, but he returned to practice Wednesday. Teams aren’t required to list practice squad players on the injury report, so we don’t know exactly what caused Ray’s prolonged absence. The same goes for linebacker Cameron McGrone and offensive lineman Bill Murray, who also missed extended time before recently returning.
@patsspinzone
Safe to assume at this point Hightower is as close to officially retired as someone can get before actually announcing it?
The Patriots have kept Dont’a Hightower’s jersey number and prime-location locker vacant since his departure in March, but I haven’t seen or heard anything to indicate he’s planning on playing this season. The linebacker also hasn’t given any sort of official retirement announcement, though, so the possibility of a midseason return still exists. The Patriots did just bring back Jamie Collins, who’d been unsigned for eight months after undergoing offseason shoulder surgery.
@NuJeru4Life
Do you see the Patriots making a trade by the deadline?
The Patriots’ trade deadline approach has varied in recent years. We’ve seen them pull off major moves involving players like Collins (2016), Jimmy Garoppolo (2017) and Mohamed Sanu (2019). But since the Sanu trade — which failed spectacularly after the veteran wideout injured his ankle in his second game and was never the same — the Patriots haven’t been big deadline dealers. They acquired depth wide receiver Isaiah Ford from the Miami Dolphins in 2020 (and cut him a month later) and stood pat last season.
Whom might they target ahead of this year’s Nov. 2 deadline? National outlets have floated Washington Commanders cornerback William Jackson III and Carolina Panthers wide receiver Robbie Anderson as possibilities. I also think an upgrade at linebacker would make sense, as that unit’s been inconsistent thus far.
We’ll delve much deeper into trade deadline preview coverage in the coming weeks.
