With the New England Patriots likely to look much different in 2020, here are three players on offense that are set to have breakout seasons.
One team that all eyes will be on early and often during the 2020 NFL season is the New England Patriots.
With many key players departing the team this offseason, including legendary quarterback Tom Brady and others on both sides of the ball, it will be interesting to see if the Patriots go into somewhat of a rare rebuilding mode or if they are able to pick things up where they left off in 2019 while continuing their long-lasting dominance in the league.
Nobody is questioning that New England will look much different on both sides of the line of scrimmage in 2020, but the biggest difference we will see comes on offense with a flood of new talent set to try and step up into big roles during the year.
The Patriots will try and once again be able to claim the AFC East for another year this season while attempting to make another postseason appearance following an early exit in the playoffs in 2019. After compiling a record of 12-4 during the regular season, New England was ousted in the playoffs in the opening round action ending its year earlier than it had hoped.
Part of trying to fill some holes most notably on offense came this offseason during the 2020 NFL Draft and throughout the undrafted free agency process, with New England hoping to insert those players and other players currently on the depth chart to take over starting jobs this year.
With the Patriots holding the toughest regular-season schedule of any team in the NFL this season, that task of stepping up will be a tough one for many of those players.
With a flood of new personnel set to take the field on offense in Foxborough in 2020, let’s take a dive into three players on that side of the line of scrimmage who could be due for break out campaigns this year.
3. Isaiah Wynn
One player on the offensive side of the ball that could be poised for a breakout 2020 season comes on the Patriots offensive line and most notably offensive tackle Isaiah Wynn.
Wynn is a nice young piece within that New England front line that the Patriots could groom to take over at tackle this season and into the future. The 23-year-old lineman broke into the league prior to the 2018 season after he was selected by New England in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
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Unfortunately for Wynn, he wasn’t able to take the field during that 2018 campaign after tearing his Achilles tendon during the preseason and put him on the sideline for the entirety of the year.
He was able to get back onto the field in 2019, however, appearing and starting in eight games for New England at left tackle. Wynn appeared on the field for 44 percent of the Patriots’ overall offensive snaps.
The 6-2, 300-plus-pound offensive lineman should be a nice piece and could see an expanded role during the 2020 campaign, which would be nice third year in the league but his second actually taking the field.
One thing Wynn will need to work on is his ability to block in the running game, which is one of the glaring issues and flaws in his game at the current moment. He has been a pretty solid pass protector, which will be important with a new quarterback set to lead the offense this year.
Wynn is still fairly young and if he is able to stay healthy and on the field more than he has been able to up to this point in his professional career, the offensive lineman could have a breakout season and could prove to be a nice addition to that front line in New England.
2. N’Keal Harry
There is no question that the wide receiver position needs some improvement in Foxborough during the 2020 season.
After opening up the 2019 year with an impressive receiving group consisting of wide receivers such as Julian Edelman, Antonio Brown, Josh Gordon and Phillip Dorsett, among others, that group quickly diminished after injury issues took place and other players departed the team in the early portions of the season.
That basically left Edelman and Dorsett as the two main options for Tom Brady in the passing game, while New England was in the search for another player to step up alongside them.
One player that appeared the scene a bit for the Patriots during the course of the regular season was rookie wide receiver N’Keal Harry, who ended up being an interesting inclusion in the passing game. The 22-year-old Harry put together an average rookie campaign last year after he was drafted by New England in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Arizona State.
With injury issues consuming the wide receiver group a year ago, that allowed Harry to get some playing time early on in his professional career. Although he played in about half of the regular season contests for New England, be proved to Bill Belichick and company that he could be a nice piece moving forward.
In 2019, the young wideout managed to finish with 12 catches on 24 total targets, along with recording 105 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Harry also ran the ball five times for a total of 49 yards on the ground.
This season, Harry will likely once again be in the running as a top option behind Edelman in the receiving group on offense, which will be led by a new quarterback in 2020. That means he could see even more playing time and an increase in production throughout the 16-game regular season, given the fact that he can remain healthy and on the field for New England.
Harry, Edelman and Mohamed Sanu, among others, will be the group the Patriots will rely on in the passing game this season, and Harry could see a nice uptick in production while going through a breakout year in his second professional season.
1. Jarrett Stidham
All eyes will be on the quarterback position during the 2020 NFL and into the future for New England. For the first time since 2000, the Patriots will have a new face officially taking over under center as the starting quarterback moving forward following legendary quarterback Tom Brady deciding to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during free agency this offseason.
Two options at the position that a starter will likely be chosen from comes between the two players currently on the depth chart: second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham and veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer.
New England could ultimately decide to go out in free agency as the season inches closer and closer to add to the quarterback room, but the early front-runner in this race for the new Patriots starting quarterback appears to be in favor of Stidham. Bill Belichick and company appear to be very high on the almost 24-year-old quarterback who was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft out of Auburn.
Stidham, who was a backup during his rookie campaign last year behind Brady, appeared in a total of three games during the year while going 2-for-4 with 14 yards passing and one interception.
But in 2020 with a new quarterback set to take over under center, we could see Stidham have a breakout year with the extended playing time leading the Patriots offense.
It will be odd to see a quarterback competition taking place once again in New England, something we haven’t seen in a long time. But if Stidham ends up winning that competition over Hoyer or potentially others, he is poised for a big — and also extremely important — 2020 campaign.