“Well, here’s the deal: where is Sony right now? He’s still with the Patriots.”
Sony Michel was struggling in 2019, and perhaps for the first time in his football career.
Coming out of high school, Michel was the USA Today Florida Football Player of the Year, the No. 10 prospect in the nation and the No. 3 running back in the country. After four successful years at the University of Georgia, the Patriots drafted him 31st overall in 2018 after an impressive set of performances in the 2017 College Football Playoff. There aren’t many weak spots when looking at his body of work. At least, there weren’t until last season, when he averaged 3.7 yards per carry with 247 rushes, 912 yards and seven touchdowns.
When Michel went on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list to start training camp this year, he opened the door for Damien Harris, a 2019 third-round pick, and Lamar Miller, a last-minute addition for training camp. But Harris suffered a pinky injury and Miller couldn’t get healthy enough to make a successful bid for a roster spot. Michel stands atop the depth chart, but perhaps with more challengers and greater scrutiny than ever.
“Well, here’s the deal: where is Sony right now? He’s still with the Patriots,” former Georgia Bulldogs coach Mark Richt told the Patriots Wire on Tuesday. “So that answers the question on whether you think he still could be the guy or not. So, they may need to block a little. They may need to let him hit the perimeter. He may have his issues too — I don’t know what he was dealing with health-wise. But if there’s space, he’ll get it and make the first guy miss and he’ll make yards after contact. He’s legit.”
The 2020 season should be different for the Patriots offense, as they transition from Tom Brady to Cam Newton. It’s hard to imagine that Brady’s departure could help Michel — and yet there are some silver linings to the addition of Newton. He’s a running quarterback, which may encourage the Patriots to use more designed quarterback runs along with the zone read.
Does Richt think that would help Michel?
“I do. We all know Cam is a dynamic player. He’s a dynamic quarterback,” Richt said. “If they’re truly running a zone read, it’s a form of an option that makes the defense account for the quarterback as a runner, which a lot of times NFL defenses haven’t had to do. … You have to assign someone for the quarterback, which is one less tackler for the back. It allows you to get more blockers downfield.”
Ultimately, Michel’s days as the lead back could be numbered with Harris getting more comfortable in the offense. New England suggested Harris, an Alabama product, was the best player on the draft board, by far, when they went to pick him in 2019. But that didn’t put him in a good position to contribute in his rookie season, with just four carries. Still, he had ample opportunity to contribute during training camp in 2020, and Harris made a solid case to eat into Michel’s touches this year. That won’t happen for at least three weeks, though, with Harris on IR.
But Rich doesn’t see that as a problem. Michel, after all, chose Georgia with the knowledge that he’d be splitting time with Nick Chubb for their entire college careers.
“He wasn’t a huge ego guy that wanted to be the only guy,” Richt said. “He understood the advantages of staying fresh and staying healthy throughout a game, throughout a season, throughout a career. We convinced him that, when you are on the field, what you put on tape is what’s going to decide where you get drafted and what kind of a pro career you’re going to have.”
For at least the first three weeks of the season, Michel will likely get the chance to prove he’s better than what his stats said in 2019 — something that Belichick seemed to believe last year. For at least the first three weeks of the season, Michel will have to prove himself.
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