Breakout Candidates For The Patriots This Year
Every now and then the Patriots have breakout seasons from players you would not expect. Malcolm Butler in 2015 replaced the holes left by Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner & Kyle Arrington, finishing with 67 total tackles, 2 interceptions, 15 passes defended and a spot in the Pro Bowl. Devin McCourty in 2010 came into the league as a first round pick and made the Pro Bowl, tying for second in INTs, along with Asante Samuel & Troy Polamalu. There is also Tom Brady in 2001, after only one completion in his rookie year, took over after Drew Bledsoe got injured in Week 2, won the Super Bowl, made the Pro Bowl, and is now being considered as the greatest to ever grace a football field. For Coach Belichick, a handful of players have that opportunity again this year to impress him in hopes of becoming the next breakout player in the Belichick regime.
Brandin Cooks
The Patriots decided to draft four players with their picks at the draft, however they made trades only a mastermind like Bill Belichick would think of making. Trading their first-round pick for Brandin Cooks proves that they do not need to work through the draft to improve their Super Bowl winning team. In Cooks, the Patriots receive a player who finished 7th in receiving yards last season and topped 1000 receiving yards the past two seasons. Coach Belichick was not going to find a player of that caliber in the draft, nor would they be able to find one in free agency and still be able to afford Stephon Gilmore.
Going from Drew Brees to Tom Brady could push Cooks into the ranks of Odell Beckham, Antonio Brown & Julio Jones as he will be learning from Brady’s most reliable target, Julian Edelman. Cooks most likely should be the number one receiver going into the season, and barring an injury should look to eclipse his career best 1173 receiving yards in 2015.
James White/Mike Gillislee
It is always tough trying to predict who will be the starting back in the Pats’ backfield, so I’ll just say Belichick will use another RB by committee type look. I see the Pats using Gillislee as the primary runner out of the backfield, with White rotating in as a pass catching back.
After his Super Bowl LI performance, James White should expect to see much more field time this season. He has kept a level head after scoring the winning touchdown in overtime, stating that “nobody cares about [the winning TD] anymore,” as Nicole Yang (Boston.com) reported in her respective article.
As for Gillislee, this could very well be a make-or-break season. Should he have a less than stellar year, he could find himself cut when the last year of his 2-year, $6.4 M deal kicks in. As per Spotrac, the Patriots can cut Gillislee next year and it will not cost the team any dead cap space; he will receive his bonus in full this year; however, if Gillislee has a good year, he could land an extension either after this season or next as the only tailback signed past this season is White.
Kony Ealy
Like Brandin Cooks, Kony Ealy was acquired via trade from the Carolina Panthers, for the Patriots’ second-round pick. Ealy is going to Foxborough playing on the final year of his rookie deal. After the year, he could be looking at a new deal with New England as Rob Ninkovich will be 34 in February and if Ealy can outperform the latter, Coach Belichick could choose to only re-sign the 25-year old, not the older end who has been a key component in Belichick's defensive scheme the past few seasons with his consistency year by year.
With the departures of Jabaal Sheard & Chris Long to Indianapolis and Philadelphia, respectively, Ealy should expect to see a lot of gridiron time competing for the starting right end spot along with Trey Flowers and Geneo Grissom.
I like to debate about sports on Twitter @LouisCote13.
