Two Offensive Breakout Candidates for the Patriots 2020 season, not named Damien Harris. Who could they be?

Who are the most underrated players going into the 2020 NFL season for the Patriots? This is something I have been thinking about and will explain.

Sony Michel

Everyone is taking the easy way out talking about the redshirted running back Damien Harris. Of course Harris is going to have a breakout year. Any stats he puts up are going to be an improvement over his 2019 season. Harris should be the powerhouse back and no offense to people I respect but to everyone else, Selecting Harris is a cop out answer.

Michel didn't have the 2019 season everyone expected. People are saying he cannot break tackles and needs a fullback. While I think Michel is the Patriots finesse back, I disagree that he needs a fullback.

Michel was a first round pick of 2018. He missed some time but still produced near 1000 yards his rookie season. Michel has room to improve in the passing game and with the quarterbacks on the roster I believe he can.

Michel ran 209 times for 931 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2018. Michel had 11 broken tackles in 2018 and he also rushed for 73 first downs. For a Patriots running that is impressive when you look at how much Tom Brady audibled and threw the football.

In 2018, Michel had one of the best blocking lines, the best fullback in the league and two of the best blocking tight ends in Gronkowski and Allen. In 2019, he didnt have nearly any of that. 

2019 was a bit different. Sure Sony was hurt by not having James Devlin but there were multiple times a much wiser fan and play by play announcer, the host of DPN Sports Talk on Sportscastr.com; Mr Ray Rauth had said that everytime the Patriots ran the ball to the left behind Marshall Newhouse that the defenders were in the backfield before he could move. 

Newhouse played in 15 games and started 9 of them. He played in 63% of the offensive snaps. Newhouse had 1 holding and 2 penalties declined. From what I can see, Newhouse had a low 51.2% run blocking grade in November and at one point it was 48.4. I cannot find his season ending grade but his run blocking grade was horrible.

The Patriots were ranked 24th worst when it came to getting stuffed on runs, getting stuffed 21% of the time according to footballoutsiders.com. The dolphins were the worst coming in at 32nd, with getting stuffed 26% of the time; as a reference to how bad the Patriots blocking was.

While Michel couldn't run to the left without getting tackled in the backfield, he still put up almost near identical yards. Obviously, not being able to get positive yards to the left for most of the year lowered his average.  So take his stat average for 2019 with a grain of salt.

In 2019 Michel had 912 yards and 7 touchdowns on 247 carries. Michel Broke 16 tackles or 15.4%, again the percentage would be higher if he had blocking to the left. Michel only ran for 55 first downs. 

Michel has to improve but when he's getting stuffed 1/5th of the times he rushed at the line,  or worse because the blocking couldnt hold up; his odds of picking up first downs dropped. 

The Patriots have a returning starting offensive line along with two mid round red shirted rookies from 2019. If the Patriots offensive line improves, so will Michel's stats; regardless if he has a fullback. If Stidham trusts Michel, that will also help him in the run game.

Ryan Izzo

The second breakout player is Ryan Izzo. Izzo caught 66.7% of his targets in 2019 and was looking like the best of the group before a concussion hindered his development. Granted Izzo was only targeted 9 times due to the circle of trust. Izzo only played in 23% of the offensive snaps, mainly as a run blocker.

Izzo was targeted 4 times vs the Giants and looked like he had started to earn Brady's trust. Then he suffered a concussion in that week 6 game. Izzo only ended up playing in 6 games in 2019. When Izzo caught the ball he got yards. Having a 19 yard average, with a long of 41. 

Izzo doesn't have to worry about the circle of trust anymore and should easily beat out Matt Lacosse for the number three spot. Knowing the Patriots, with the shortend offseason, Izzo could be the number one tight end to start the year. At 6'5" 255 LBS Izzo can be a security blanket and with Keene and Asiasi, he could form the magic three tight end set, allowing the Patriots to rotate between a receivers and fullbacks; creating havoc for opposing defenses. 

Defense is not my cup of tea. Adam Butler, Chase Winovich, and JoeJuan Williams in my opinion have the most to prove going into 2020 and should all have breakout years.

However, the new linebackers are going to have to show they can replace Van Noy and Collins; which is no easy task. Thus they are under tremendous pressure, and the entire linebacking core could surprise everyone.