8 things to watch in the Patriots’ preseason finale
Looking at the top storylines heading into the Patriots’ preseason finale on Sunday night against the Washington Commanders.
The New England Patriots have one more tune-up game before the regular season. That comes Sunday night at FedEx field against the Washington Commanders – the 49th and final game of the full NFL preseason slate.
This is the final chance for some players to make their case to be higher on the dept chart, or on the roster all together. With 20 practices and two of three games in the books for the Patriots though, it’ll be hard to overwrite an entire summer in one practice. While there are some spots still up for grabs, there’s really only one major battle that’s still (maybe) playing out. We’ll start there with our final ‘What to Watch For’ of the summer…
The quarterback battle (?)
Throughout the summer, Jerod Mayo has repeatedly said there is a quarterback battle taking place in Foxborough. Alex Van Pelt joined him in expressing that concept earlier this week.
Despite that, the Patriots’ practice scripting hasn’t shown any kind of battle. Jacoby Brissett repped with the top offense exclusively until this final week of camp, when Drake Maye mixed in for a handful of reps which mostly resulted in handoffs or designed short passes.
If there is really a battle for the starting quarterback job as it relates to Week 1, Brissett is in the lead. Does Maye have an actual shot to catch him? If that door really is still open, he’d need a big performance on Sunday to really give the coaches something to think about.
Situational chances for Drake Maye
Regardless of where Drake Maye is on the depth chart, his development is a key story this summer in its own right. Even if he’s not starting Week 1, how ready is he to take over sooner rather than later.
One thing it would be great to see Maye do in that regard is lead a drive with the clock winding down. Throughout what was otherwise a promising camp, Maye did struggle consistently in periods where he was given a live one- or two-minute drill with a running clock and downs and distances tracked. He didn’t lead the offense to a touchdown in any of those situations, and threw three interceptions in those drills.
Last week the Patriots had a chance to get the ball back with 40 seconds and two timeouts at the end of the first half, but let the clock run out instead of calling the timeout to force the Eagles to punt and give Maye the shot. We’ll see if they set him up for any end-of-half situations this week, and if so if he handles them better in a game than he did in practice.
New-look offensive line
Vederian Lowe has spent the majority of the summer as the Patriots’ top left tackle, including starting the first two preseason games there. However, he suffered an injury on Wednesday and hasn’t practiced since.
With Lowe out, the Patriots have turned to a new-look offensive line. This unit has Chuks Okorafor moving from right to left tackle, Mike Onwenu kicking out to the right tackle spot from right guard, and rookie Layden Robinson stepping in for him on the interior.
There’s an argument to be made that three or four of the Patriots’ top five offensive linemen on the roster are all primarily interior players (with David Andrews and Sidy Sow joining the players listed above). Moving Onwenu out to tackle is the most logical way to get them all on the field at the same time.
That being said, just because it’s the five most talented individual players doesn’t mean it’s the best five as a whole. There’s more to offensive line play than just individual talent – the five players on the field have to be able to cohesively work as one unit. The only way to judge whether or not they can do that is on the field.
After just two practices together this new group should get at least a brief look on Sunday night. If things go well, it could show the coaching staff they have another option in their back pocket if the original alignment struggles to start the season.
Crowded positions
The two most crowded positions on the Patriots roster heading into this game are wide receiver and cornerback. Heading into this game, there are seven wide receivers realistically vying for a roster spot (not including Kendrick Bourne, who is on PUP) while the cornerback room has eight such players.
What are the chances everyone or almost everyone from both of those groups makes it? Are seven receivers and/or cornerbacks in play for the initial roster?
It’s not as crazy as it sounds at first. With the Patriots not carrying special teams-specific players this year, they have more at-large roster spots open than they did in the past. The flip side of that is depth players will be needed more to play special teams but many of the players competing for the final spots at both positions do have special teams experience.
So who are the individual players in this conversation? At receiver it’s Jalen Reagor and Kayshon Boutte trying to earn spots behind roster locks DeMario Douglas, K.J. Osborn, Tyquan Thornton, and the two rookies. At cornerback Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones, Christian Gonzalez, Marco Wilson and Alex Austin seem to have their spots locked up based off their usage in practice. That leaves Isaiah Bolden, Shaun Wade, and rookie Marcellas Dial battling it out for the final spot(s) there.
Depth tight ends
For most of the summer, none of the Patriots’ depth tight ends were able to make a real push towards the third tight end spot on the roster, despite having plenty of opportunities. With roster cuts looming, this could leave the team looking for an external addition at that spot – like year with Pharaoh Brown.
Could a late push be coming though? Friday’s practice saw rookies Jaheim Bell and Jacob Warren both making an impact in 11-on-11 drills. Can either player build on that momentum, and give the Patriots a reason to not look elsewhere? With Mitchell Wilcox missing practice all week and unlikely to play on Sunday, they should have plenty of chances in this game.
Opportunities on the edge
Similar to the situation at tight end, the Patriots closed camp thin on the edge on defense. Joshua Uche and Oshane Ximines have both missed multiple practices this week, while Deatrich Wise probably won’t play much in this game as a proven veteran.
Still, somebody has to take those snaps. William Bradley-King has flashed at times in the preseason, and this could be his chance to prove he’s worth keeping as a depth player and special teamer. It’s also a chance for new signings Kobe Jones and Christian McCarroll to potentially earn a practice squad spot.
A new UDFA streak?
The Patriots had a 19-year streak of at least one undrafted free agent (UDFA) making the team end last year. During that run players talked about the important message that streak set, with some UDFAs saying they signed with the Patriots because they knew they’d be given a real shot to make the team, based on that streak.
Prior to Friday’s practice, Jerod Mayo talked about the value that streak had. “It’s huge. I always tell those guys they all were on teams in college where a five-star would come in or a four-star would come in and everyone’s like, ‘Ooh,’ but they’re trash. So, you have that one-star player that actually makes the team,” Mayo explained. “I think it’s important, and once again, going back to competition and going back to [how] my job is to put the best player on the field no matter where you drafted them. So, that’s kind of how I think about it.”
Will the Patriots start a new such streak this year? If they’re going to, safety Dell Pettus has the best chance to be the player that makes the initial roster. “He’s done a fantastic job. There’s been a lot of conversation around him, but he’s done a fantastic job up until this point,” Mayo said of Pettus on Friday.
A five-year starter for the Troy Trojans, Pettus has regularly been around the ball this summer, and brings an added level of physicality. Those skills will help him not just on defense but also on special teams, where he’ll really have to earn his roster spot. He seems to be on track to do that – can he clinch it by making a few plays on Sunday?
While Pettus has the best chance to make the Week 1 roster, there are a couple of other Patriots UDFAs who have a chance to make the practice squad initially but could contribute down the road. Some of those players are tight end Jacoby Warren, running back Terrell Jennings, and wide receiver David Wallis.
Kickers
Heading into the final preseason game, Joey Slye seems to have a commanding lead in the Patriots’ kicker battle. Between the 20 practices and two preseason games (counting extra points as 33-yard field goals), Slye is 43-of-52 while Chad Ryland is 39-of-52.
The difference has been from distance. Slye is 25-of-31 from 40-plus yards out (including an 8-of-9 mark from 50-plus), while Ryland is 19-of-29 (going 3-of-7 from 50-plus). Full kicker numbers from the summer can be found here.
Right now the job seems to be Slye’s, but kicking is a fickle business. Could anything happen Sunday night that makes the team really have to think about its decision before the roster cut deadline Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET?
