New England Patriots 2018 Season Preview
Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 8/7/2019.
New England Patriots Free Agency Recap
New England got Demaryius Thomas from Denver and Maurice Harris from Washington in Free Agency at wide receiver. New England also got Benjamin Watson and Lance Kendricks. Austin Seferian-Jenkins one of the Free Agents they signed got cut. Watson got suspended. New England went from having the ability to Gronk smash opponents with their tight end to having to solve a rubix cube at the tight end position. Michael Bennett is also the brand new 4-3 right end for New England after Trey Flowers signed a monster contract with Detroit. New England also got Mike Pennell from the New York Jets to replace Malcolm Brown.
New England Patriots Draft Recap
The New England Patriots drafted Arizona State wide receiver N'Keal Harry out of Arizona State with their 2019 first round pick. Harry is doing well and competing with other receivers who are doing well with New England for a starting spot.
New England Patriots Quarterback Summary: Tom Brady is the Patriots starting quarterback. Now Brian Hoyer is the backup. Danny Etling is the third stringer and Jarrett Stidham is the fourth stringer. Josh McDaniels returns. He's the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach.
New England Patriots Running Back Summary: The Patriots have James White as a starter in 1 RB sets. James White and Sony Michel are both starters in 2 RB sets. You also got Rex Burkhead and Brandon Bolden as backups for depth. Alabama rookie running back Damien Harris is a third string running back pushing for a roster spot. Noah Develin is a great fullback too.
Running backs coach Ivan Fears is one of the best running backs coaches in the NFL. He has a lot to work with having at least six running backs that can run the football effectively.
New England Patriots Wide Receiver Summary: Julian Edelman won Super Bowl MVP even with his 4 game suspsension last year. He's playing through an injury right now and I am guessing New England will only use him in practice and not play him during the preseason like they are doing with quarterback Tom Brady. You got other receivers like N'Keal Harry, Maurice Harris, and Jakobi Meyers all playing like first team starters. You also have Braxton Berrios doing well. Phillip Dorsett is also doing well. Demaryius Thomas is on the PUP list. Josh Gordon is back as well. People are saying New England is thin at wide receiver, but when you study this depth chart you can easily argue that New England is just as deep perhaps even deeper at wide receiver then last years group.
Chad O'Shea was hired by the Patriots in 2009. Special teams coordinator Joe Judge is also assuming the responsibility of being the wide receivers caoch. This will help Judge find a return specialist on special teams as well as coach up these receivers. This also makes Judge an intriguing candidate for New England to promote to offensive coordinator at some point down the road in the event that Bill Belichick retires and Josh McDaniels succeeds Belichick as a head coach.
New England Patriots Tight End Summary: The New England Patriots use two tight end sets quite frequently. Rob Gronkowski and Dwayne Allen are gone. Austin Seferian-Jenkins signed with the team only to retire. Benjamin Watson got suspended. New England signed Lance Kendricks and literally has no depth behind Kendricks at tight end. Nick Caley returns as the tight ends coach in 2018.
New England Patriots Offensive Line Summary: Right now the Patriots have Isiaah Wynn at left tackle, Joe Thuney at left guard, David Andrews at center, Shaq Mason at right guard, and Marcus Cannon at right tackle. Trent Brown surprised me last year when he stepped up for Nate Solder during the NFL Playoffs when Wynn was on injured reserve. Now Wynn is healthy and New England looks to have a stronger offensive line than last season.
Dante Scarnecchia enters year three as the Patriots offensive line coach in his second stint with the team. The Patriots thrived with Scarnecchia's pass blocking scheme the last two years.
New England is going to be tested. Tom Brady got an extension and shows no signs of slowing down. New England should wield one of the leagues best offenses once again in 2019 and the only weakness on this offense lies at tight end.
New England Patriots Defensive Line Summary: Michael Bennett will start at 4-3 right end with Deatrich Wise Jr. starting at 4-3 left end. John Simon is the backup 4-3 right end with Keionta Davis being the backup 4-3 left end. Derek Rivers, the 2017 third round pick that I had a first round grade on got demoted to third string. Rivers really needs a strong preseason in order to avoid getting cut by New England.
Lawrence Guy and Mike Pennel will start at 4-3 defensive tackle. Danny Shelton and Adam Butler provide great depth t 4-3 defensive tackle.
Bret Bielema is the new defensive line coach. I feel like this is a downgrade at defensive line coach.
New England Patriots Linebacker Summary: Dont'a Hightower will start at 4-3 right outside linebacker. Elandon Roberts will start at 4-3 middle linebacker. Kyle Van Noy will start at 4-3 left outside linebacker. The Patriots are very thin with linebacker depth. They don't have the linebacker depth they had a year ago.
The Patriots have thwo coaches that specialize in developing linebackers. Head coach Bill Belichick and linebackers coach Jerod Mayo. Mayo is an inside linebackers coach. New England also hired Demarcus Covington to be the outside linebackers coach. Hightower and Roberts can both rotate between middle linebacker and 4-3 right outside linebacker while Kyle Van Noy stays at left outside linebacker making New England lethal at linebacker once again.
New England Patriots Defensive Backs Summary: The Patriots have Stephon Gilmore as the field cornerback. Jason McCourty won the boundary cornerback job in 2018 and did well enough to keep it. New England also has Jonathan Jones and JC Jackson competing for the nickel cornerback job with the loser being the dime cornerback. Joejuan Williams is competing with Obi Melifonwu for the quarter cornerback job. Patrick Chung is expected to start at strong safety. Devin McCourty will start at free safety.
New England has Duron Harmon as a third safety. He's both the backup free safety and the backup strong safety.
The Patriots have one of the best safeties coaches in Steve Belichick the son of Bill Belichick. Steve Belichick is the secondary coach/safeties coach despite bringing in Mike Pellegrino to be the new cornerbacks coach. This essentially makes Bill Belichick's son the defensive backs coach.
The Patriots should finish in the top 20 in every defensive category. New England could be just as lethal as last year during their playoff run. I think we can see the Patriots play like they did during Super Bowl 53 with this group of players in January.
New England Patriots Special Teams Summary: Stephen Gostkowski will start at kicker. Gostkowski is arguably one of the two best kickers in the NFL along with Justin Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens. Punter Ryan Allen will start for the Patriots. Sony Michel will be the kick returner for New England and Julian Edelman will be the punt returner. Joe Judge is back at special teams coordinator as well.
New England Patriots Worst Case Scenario: The New England Patriots go 11-5. They lose in the wild card round.
New England Patriots Best Case Scenario: New England goes 15-1 and wins Super Bowl 54. New England repeats as Super Bowl Champions.
New England Patriots 2019 NFL Schedule
Week |
Date |
Opponent |
Time |
Cable Network |
Result |
Week 1 |
September 8 |
VS  |
8:20 PM EST |
NBC |
W |
Week 2 |
September 15 |
AT  |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 3 |
September 22 |
VS  |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 4 |
September 29 |
AT  |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 5 |
October 6 |
AT  |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 6 |
October 10 |
VS  |
8:20 PM EST |
FOX |
W |
Week 7 |
October 21 |
AT |
8:15 PM EST |
ESPN |
W |
Week 8 |
October 27 |
VS  |
4:25 PM EST |
CBS |
L |
Week 9 |
November 3 |
AT  |
8:20 PM EST |
NBC |
W |
Week 10 |
|
Bye Week |
|
|
|
Week 11 |
November 17 |
AT  |
4:25 PM ESt |
CBS |
L |
Week 12 |
November 24 |
VS  |
4:25 PM EST |
FOX |
W |
Week 13 |
December 1 |
AT  |
8:20 PM EST |
NBC |
L |
Week 14 |
December 8 |
VS  |
4:25 PM EST |
CBS |
L |
Week 15 |
December 15 |
AT  |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 16 |
December 22 |
VS |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
Week 17 |
December 29 |
VS |
1 PM EST |
CBS |
W |
The Utopia Of Sports
