Patriots Question of the Day: Who is a dark horse MVP candidate?
FOXBORO -- With the 2022 Patriots season inching closer and closer, the WBZ-TV/CBS Boston sports team will tackle a new question surrounding the team each day leading up to Sunday's opener in Miami.
The crew hit on potential breakout stars on Thursday, but today we give our MVP candidates -- ones that don't play quarterback, that is.
Mac Jones being the team's MVP is too obvious. So we're going to go outside the box and name some potential dark horse MVPs on the roster.
Steve Burton, WBZ-TV Sports
I'm picking Hunter Henry. Mac loves to find Hunter Henry, especially in the red zone.
Dan Roche, WBZ-TV Sports
Let's go with Jakobi Meyers. His reception numbers have risen in each of his first three seasons (from 26, to 59 to 83) and he finally found the end zone in 2021 (twice!). Has a chance to crack the 100-catch mark based on how many times Mac threw his way in camp/preseason.
Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
If we're going dark horse, let's go all the way: Jake Bailey. An All-Pro in 2020, Bailey was legitimately one of the most important players on the team as the low-scoring Patriots grinded their way through the Cam Newton season. He was an All-Pro that year and was a huge factor in that 7-9 record not being even more embarrassing.
Last year though, he wasn't nearly as good, so perhaps he's in line for a bounce back year with the Patriots likely to end up in some low-scoring affairs.
Matthew Geagan, CBS Boston
I'm going with Rhamondre Stevenson. Even if Damien Harris is the lead guy out of the backfield, Stevenson is in line for a three-down role this year. He's a monster of a running back but he is super quick, and both of those aspects will help him get his yards even if the offensive line can't hold up their end of the bargain. And this year, Stevenson is going to start catching a lot more passes out of the backfield. Huge year incoming for the big back.
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