2022 SFL Patriots Season Preview

by StevenSD | 3 years ago | 0 Comments

Patriots Beat Writer - Dave Meltzer

Dwanye Johnson's first season with Patriots had a lot of frustrations but in the end his team was still one game away from being able to compete in the SFL playoffs. One of the most frustrating aspects of the season for Johnson was that he couldn't adapt to the 3-4 defense that he inherited. He couldn't stop the run and it took half a season to begin to hold a threat against the pass. On top of that, the offensive passing game struggled throughout the season, further hurting the team's overall performance. Finding a QB that Johnson liked affected the team's production, as well as not having a playmaker capable of logging 1,000 yards receiving.

Going to Back to the Basic's - The 4-3 Defense

The first move Johnson made this offseason was to replace the 3-4 system with one that he has found the most success with, the 4-3. Johnson hired former Eagles' defensive coordinator Will Summers to help lead this campaign. The Patriots have added veterans such as Jerry Hughes and Aldon Smith to hopefully improve the run defense while it transitions. The other major area of improvement that needs to be seen is the pass rush for the unit. Johnson hopes the switch to a 4-3 helps players such as Josh Uche see more playing time and hopefully log a double digit sack season, something no player on this defense accomplished last season.

Admitting to Mistakes - Fixing the QB Position

While allowing new coach Will Summers to attend to the defensive side of the ball, Dwayne Johnson personally took on the task of figuring out the QB position for the team and finally committing to a direction. Rumors started early on that Johnson was not happy with Mac Jones at QB. Those rumors were quickly proven true when Johnson made the move to bring in Jordan Love and announced him as the QB for the rest of the season. While finding success after the move by having a record of 8-6, Johnson still wasn't satisfied with the production from the position.

"I'm not afraid to say I was wrong with my quarterbacks. That's the first thing to do to fix this, then I need to commit to one player moving forward." - Dwayne Johnson

In an effort to fix his early mistake with his young QB Mac Jones, Dwayne Johnson promised him the starting position and sent Jones to the SFL PIP Program to help train and improve his game. Mac Jones took advantage of this opportunity by improving his arm strength training with former QB Kyle Boller. The dedication that Mac showed to improve during the offseason has re-confirmed Dwayne Johnson's belief that Jones is the QB moving forward.

Finding an Offensive Threat - Going All In

With a longer season than in the past, not one player clipped over 1,000 yards receiving last year leaving what Johnson felt to be a major position to upgrade. And he just didn't upgrade that position, he completely revamped it.

The first move Johnson made to upgrade the position was to relieve the cap stress that an aging Nelson Agholor, a disappointing Kendrick Bourne and slow slot Jakobi Meyers were taking up. These moves left the team with just 1 WR on the roster. That didn't last long as Johnson traded away Chase Winovich to the Rams for their young raw WR Van Jefferson. Once free agency began, the team added the pass catching services of veteran WR Allen Lazard. None of these additions clipped over 500 yards last year, but Johnson believes that competition brings out the best in young players, and that one of these 2 new weapons can be the crutch that the offense lacked last season.

Johnson was feeling pretty confident moving into the draft, so confident that he pulled an unprecedented move. The Patriots traded away future draft picks to move into the back end of the first round and did this to secure two play-making WR's. First round picks Dominick Morrison and Chad Levy are very different WR's and Johnson has big plans for both of them. Chad Levy is more pro-ready and will be starting alongside Van Jefferson while also seeing time in the slot to begin the season in Week 1 against the Cardinals. Dominick Morrison is a raw big bodied 6'4" fast WR that Johnson hopes to see make an impact later in the season once his route running develops. Johnson hopes that these moves in the draft and offseason can help lead a player to be that impactful WR he desperately needs. If not - that was a lot to pay to stay exactly where the unit was before.