Saying that 2020 will be a difficult year for the New England Patriots is an enormous understatement.

Rewinding to the middle of March — Tom Brady’s departure was the biggest blow the team took in a long time. The Patriots’ Hall of Fame quarterback that thrived for two decades jolted down to Tampa Bay to sign with the Buccaneers. New England’s best replacement option at the time was second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham and the salary-cap space was nearly nonexistent.

Fast-forwarding to the beginning of August — the quarterback position is an afterthought and the coronavirus pandemic began to really take its toll on the NFL. Cam Newton is the quarterback, which is good, but the team has an league-high eight opt-outs that includes Dont’a Hightower and Patrick Chung. But hey, at least the Patriots have gained a significant boost in cap space since March.

Here are the five biggest holes the Patriots have ahead of the start of training camp, which is a mess in itself. Hint hint — quarterback didn’t even touch this list.

Linebacker

The linebacker position is by far the biggest hole on the roster. New England went from one of the best linebacker corps in the league to potentially one of the worst over the offseason. Jamie Collins, Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts took their talents elsewhere in free agency. Dont’a Hightower opted-out and it’ll leave Bill Belichick with some serious work to put in.

It is important to keep in mind that this is a fluid situation and the Patriots do have cap space to bring in talented players. But, the talent on the roster currently consists of rookies Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings, Ja’Whaun Bentley, John Simon, Chase Winovich and Brandon Copeland primarily. Bentley, Simon and Winovich have the most experience with the Patriots’ system and Copeland will bring a solid player experience-wise.

Training camp will tell the tale on which players thrive and claim starting roles, but this group will have to run off the collective unit and not individual stardom.