The wait is almost over. In just four days, the New England Patriots will officially open their 2025 regular season and with it a new chapter in franchise history.
The dynasty days are long gone, as is the disappointing Jerod Mayo experiment. Now, Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye are tasked with returning the team to NFL relevance. How quickly they will be able to do that will be seen, but the season opener agains the visiting Las Vegas Raiders this Sunday will provide a first glimpse into the organization’s
trajectory and how far along the rebuild truly is.
In order for those big-picture questions to be answered, however, a handful of smaller ones are also waiting to be addressed. With Week 1 coming up, let’s take a look at some of them to find out where there still is uncertainty with the season’s start nearing.
Will Drake Maye make the Year 2 jump?
When the Patriots selected Drake Maye third overall in last year’s draft, they did so with a clear vision in mind: he was to become the face of the franchise, and the heir to Tom Brady that former starting quarterback Mac Jones never turned out to be. There have been plenty of promising signs during his rookie season, but the honeymoon period is now over.
Heading into 2025, the Patriots expect Maye to make a sizable jump and truly establish himself as a player worth building around. So far this year, they did just that. From hiring Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator, to making high-profile investments in free agency and the draft, the team was trying its best over the last few months to put its young passer in the best possible situation.
There are still plenty of questions to be asked about Maye’s support cast — more in a second — but the stage is set for him to showcase the growth the organization wants and expects to see. What it will look like, however, has yet to be determined; neither training camp nor preseason should be regarded as a truly accurate representation of where Maye stands at this particular point in his development. There have been glimpses both good and bad, but until live bullets start flying those are only that: glimpses.
Sunday will not be a determining moment for Maye either way. What it will be, however, is the first true status update since the end of his rookie campaign.
“Just anxious to get out there,” he said last week. “We’re going to be in front of a home crowd, hopefully a good crowd. Nerves-wise, I think I get nervous about the same amount every game out there. Back to high school, kind of the same. Not really nervous, just jitters getting out there. Once you get going in the game, I feel good. From here, just getting ready with the new guys. There are new guys we’re playing with, so kind of building chemistry with them in a game-like setting. But other than that, I wouldn’t say nervous; I think just more excited and anxious.”
Is the offensive line up for the task?
The story of the Patriots’ demise over the last few seasons, is the story of their offensive line taking a massive step back. While the unit was still among the best in the business up until 2021, it quickly began to deteriorate from 2022 on; the offensive issues the last three seasons were in large part due to the O-line not being up to the task.
Mike Vrabel, Eliot Wolf and the rest of New England’s decision makers were quite aware of that. And so, they made a concerted effort to rebuild from the trenches out (something they did on both sides of the ball). For the offensive line, that meant installing new starters at four of the five positions — right guard Mike Onwenu is the only holdover from last season — and hiring veteran coach Doug Marrone to lead the unit from the sidelines and in the meeting room.
Based on training camp, the Patriots will enter 2024 with Will Campbell, Jared Wilson, Garrett Bradbury, Onwenu and Morgan Moses as their starting five. With the exception of Onwenu, who remains a quality player entering his sixth season with the team, there are further questions about every one of the new faces up front as well as those set to back them up.
How will the rookies Campbell and Wilson fare on the left side? Will Bradbury’s pass protection create issues? Is Moses ready for a full workload? How significant will the drop-off from the starter level be? And, above it all: will the unit be up to the task after some potentially concerning moments over the course of the summer?
How ready are the rookies?
Speaking of Will Campbell and Jared Wilson, the two young offensive linemen are only two of several rookies set to play big roles for the 2025 Patriots.
Obviously, their projected statuses as starting left tackle and starting left guard put them in a special place among the first-year players — nobody else will see the same volume of snaps — but they are only the tip of the metaphorical iceberg. Behind them are other youngsters who the team will rely on to deliver.
Second-round running back TreVeyon Henderson projects to play a major role in the three-man rotation at running back as well as the leading kickoff returner; Craig Woodson has emerged as a starting safety over the last few weeks and helped make Jabrill Peppers expendable; Andy Borregales and Julian Ashby will be instrumental on special teams as kicker and long snapper. The rest of the currently 12 rookies on the team also might see some action in select packages or as rotational options at their respective spots.
Even though the phrase has not been mentioned quite as prominently this year, the Patriots are still viewing themselves as a “draft and develop” team. The quantity of rookies on the roster, plus the quality of roles they are set to play, suggests as much.
What is going on with Christian Gonzalez?
Drake Maye’s potential is undeniable, while Christian Barmore and Milton Williams are among the better players in the NFL along the interior defensive line. However, when it comes to who the Patriots’ best player currently is, nobody comes close to Christian Gonzalez: the 2023 first-round draft pick has become a true shutdown cornerback and arguably a top-three player in the league at his position.
Gonzalez’s qualities on the field are well documented, but he had some trouble staying there so far in his young career. After seeing his rookie season end just four games in due to a shoulder injury, he also missed time due to a concussion in 2024; he effectively sat out seven quarters over two games as a consequence of a head injury sustained in Week 17. This summer, he suffered another injury, hurting his hamstring early in training camp.
The second-team All-Pro has been out ever since, and there appears to be a certain level of frustration inside the building with his continued inability to return to the field (although it appears said frustration is not directed toward him).
“It just hasn’t gone…,” Mike Vrabel said earlier this week. “He’s working hard. We can say one injury is going to be three to four weeks, one is going to be one to two. Everybody heals differently. So, just making sure that when the players are back that they can do their job with confidence, that they can protect themselves on the field, and that they can’t make it any worse.”
With the season opener drawing ever closer, Gonzalez’s availability is one of the biggest stories in New England right now and one major question left unanswered.
Is the hype real?
The Patriots won only eight combined games over the last two seasons, have not been competitive for a playoff spot since 2022, and are on their third head coach in as many years. Their outlook for 2025 being anything but optimistic would be entirely justified. And yet, there has been quite a bit of hope that a turnaround might be right around the corner — to a point where some analysts or talking heads have the team as a dark horse postseason contender.
So far, there have indeed been some reasons for optimism. The supporting cast around Drake Maye looks improved, particularly up front; the team’s pass rush issues should be a thing of the past; the coaching staff on both sides of the ball and on top is more experienced and seemingly better equipped to handle the issues coming up during a season.
Projecting the Patriots to reach the playoffs or move into winning territory after three straight losing seasons might be irrationally positive considering the circumstances of the team’s rebuild and the overall state of the roster at the moment. However, the product on the field will ultimately be the judge of that.
And it will all start on Sunday.
