Training camp is right around the corner for the NFL. And, although there are a lot of questions about exactly how these practices will work, the players will still have to report by July 28.
After one of the strangest offseasons in the history of the sport, players are expected to be ready to go when that time comes.
In New England, there won’t be a public training camp like fans are accustomed to, but there will still be news that trickles out about what’s going on down in Foxboro.
It would be great to have the team firing on all cylinders and everybody playing at their peak, however, that’s just not possible. These six guys will need to be showing their best in the preseason because they all have something to prove.
Cam Newton
The Patriots brought Cam Newton in on an extremely team-friendly contract just a few weeks ago. From that moment, most fans believed that he became the favorite to be the starting quarterback for New England come the regular season.
Newton arguably has the most doubters of anybody on the Patriots’ roster from a national standpoint. Despite winning an MVP just a few seasons ago, the quarterback was cut after a few injuries that cost him almost all of last season. He was available for months and nobody took a chance on him.
Now, Newton has a chance to prove to everyone that he’s still a top quarterback in this league. That starts in training camp. He needs to take the starting job and run with it.
Jarrett Stidham
Stidham was the presumed starter before Newton was brought in. Now, he’ll have to compete for that job. The former fourth-round pick will be looking to prove to his coach, his teammates and the fans that they were wrong about moving on from him so quickly.
It’s not impossible that Stidham wins the job. However, it does seem unlikely at this point.
Sony Michel
Michel has been in the league for two seasons and has yet to have a 1,000-yard season. That’s disappointing coming from a first-round pick, especially considering his teammate at Georgia and 2018 second-round pick Nick Chubb had nearly 1,500 yards last season.
The former Bulldog will need to go out and prove that he’s healthy. This is probably the biggest concern for Michel, as he’s had a few surgeries in his short career, including a foot surgery this offseason. If he can’t there may not be many games left in Michel’s Patriots’ career.
Julian Edelman
Edelman is in an interesting position. He’s still projected to be the top wide receiver in the Patriots’ offense. However, at 34 years old, it’s tough to predict that he’ll be able to keep up the same production that he has in recent years. With age comes a loss of athleticism and potential for more injuries, so there isn’t a guarantee that Edelman is the same player in 2020.
More to that point, Edelman will be without his best friend Tom Brady for the first time in his NFL career. If Edelman wants to build on his potential Hall of Fame resume, he’ll have to show everyone that he can perform without Brady in New England.
Ja’Whaun Bentley
Bentley was a fifth-round pick in 2018, but he made a pretty strong impression in his rookie preseason. While they were just exhibition games, his play gave a lot of fans hope that he could be the middle linebacker of the future in New England. However, his rookie campaign ended after three games due to a torn bicep.
The former Boilermaker struggled to find a role in his second season, playing only 27 percent of the defensive snaps, despite appearing in all 16 games. If Bentley wants to ascend to a starting position in the linebacker corps, he’ll need to show out in training camp.
JoeJuan Williams
Williams was selected in the second round of last year’s draft. In his rookie season, he appeared in only nine games and played just eight percent of the defensive snaps.
Now, this all isn’t on Williams because his position is one of the deepest in New England. However, when he was on the field, he didn’t tend to stand out in a good way. He needs to step up and tell everyone that he’s worthy of that second-round grade and isn’t just another name in a long line of Bill Belichick’s misses in the round.
