New England Patriots links 7/05/22 - Jacked Mac, Linebackers, X-factors, rankings, More!

LOCAL LINKS

• Mike Reiss posted some weekend notes from his personal blog during vacation/staycation: A little bit of everything — Patriots nuggets, sports as a great connector, joy of coaching, and excitement ahead.
• Steve Balestrieri (PatsFans) Sunday Patriots News: Changes at linebacker are long coming; Quick-hitters for the Pats and the NFL; More.
• Nick Stevens’ Sunday 7: Maturity of Mac Jones on full display; More.
• Cole Thompson (Patriots Country) Can Raekwon McMillan be the Patriots’ LB solution?
• Mike D’Abate (Patriots Country) Patriots pre-training camp depth chart: Offense. Has enough speed and substance been added to take a step forward in 2022?
• Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry debate who will be the Patriots’ most important skill player in 2022.
• Mike D’Abate (Patriots Country) Patriots roster ranking: 1. Who is New England’s X-factor? 2. What is New England’s strength? 3. What is New England’s weakness?
• Greg Dudek relays ESPN+ writer Ben Linsey singling out Jonnu Smith as the Pats’ X-factor for 2022. The Patriots need more out of this pass-catcher.
• Keagan Stiefel talks about Bucky Brooks’ pick of Jonnu Smith and Hunter Henry as the NFL’s best TE tandem.
• Richie Whitt (Patriots Country) Beast of the East: Can Patriots keep up with Bills? Buffalo has won the last two AFC East crowns, and is heavily favored for a third in 2022.
• Keagan Stiefel relays ESPN+ analyst Scott Spratt who identifies Kendrick Bourne as the Pats’ most underrated player on the roster.
• Jason Ounpraseuth highlights Gary Davenport who picks Kyle Dugger to ‘explode Into stardom’ this season.
• Thomas Carannante (MusketFire) Tre Nixon continues to work his way into Patriots ‘fan favorite’ territory.
• Henry McKenna (PatriotsWire) Mac Jones was showing off his deep ball on Instagram in a workout video.
• Alex Reimer notes Mac Jones looks absolutely jacked in a new photo his girlfriend posted.
• Henry McKenna (PatriotsWire) Mac Jones is such a hard worker, David Andrews can’t help but tell the QB to relax.
• Murph (E2GSports) Patriots center David Andrews sets the pace. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate my 30th birthday,”
• Adam Weinrib (MusketFire) Peter Schrager joins NFL media members calling for big Mac Jones Year 2.
• Nathan Middleton (GilletteGazette) Potential Deebo trade for Patriots in 2022.
• Richie Whitt (Patriots Country) Happy Birthday, America’s sports: 246 reasons to love New England games and those who play them.
• mikereis (GilletteGazette) Players who dominated: Top five competitive LBs in Patriots history.
• Richie Whitt (Patriots Country) Oddsmakers: Patriots’ Mac Jones projected for similar season, almost identical statistics in Year 2.
• Mike Kadlick finds that according to oddsmakers, Bill Belichick is more likely to be fired than Doug Pederson, Brandon Staley among others.
• Isaiah Houde (PatriotsWire) AJ Vinatieri, son of Patriots legend Adam Vinatieri, decommits from UMass.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Joe Cardona (SI) Guest MMQB: Football no longer mimics war, but that’s O.K.
• Doc G (ProFootballTalk) Guest FMIA: Gamblers Anonymous member on dangers of NFL betting.
• Bucky Brooks (NFL.com) Scout’s Notebook: 2022 NFL season: Ranking top duos at 11 key position groups. TEs: Hunter Henry & Jonnu Smith.
• Josh Alper (ProFootballTalk) David Andrews: Mac Jones works his butt off every day, that’s what you want in a QB.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Rams 1-point favorites over Bills in Week One, but Bills are favorites to win the Super Bowl. /Patriots get to have a say in this.
• Steven Ruiz (The Ringer) Why the NFL wide receiver bubble may not burst—or at least not anytime soon.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) It’s a July 4 weekend PFT mailbag, since nothing else is going on.
• Jared Dubin (CBS Sports) NFL position group superlatives for 2022: Best offensive line, best offensive skill players (non-QB) and more. No Pats.
• Jordan Dajani (CBS Sports) Predicting 2022 MVPs for each AFC team. Patriots: Mac Jones.
• Bryan DeArdo (CBS Sports) Every NFL franchise’s best team of the Super Bowl era. Patriots: 2016.
• Jeff Kerr (CBS Sports) Ranking all of the NFL’s current throwback jerseys. No. 5: Patriots’ 1984-92 home jersey.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) NFL Network’s America’s Game marathon skips the Jon Gruden, Rich Dalrymple years. /Left OJ in, though.

EXTRACURRICULAR

• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Taking a closer look at the NFL’s case against Deshaun Watson.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Daniel Snyder gets more aggressive in his attacks on media that dare to criticize him.
• Jack Baer (Yahoo! Sports) Ex-Commanders employees reportedly testified Dan Snyder played active role in alleged workplace misconduct
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Brian Flores seeks court order compelling NFL to provide information on the issue of arbitration.