Patriots: What are the best fantasy football options on the team?
3. Sony Michel
It’s not crazy to suggest that Sony Michel has already emerged as the clear-cut favorite to become the future “face of the franchise” in New England.
Painful as it may be to consider for Patriots fans, Tom Brady – by his own admission – doesn’t intend to play more than another two or three years before retiring, at most. Julian Edelman hasn’t shown any obvious signs of slowing down, but he’s still 33 years old with a decade of wear-and-tear on his body, and the physical way he plays the game shouldn’t do him any favors in the longevity department.
The New England defense collectively is greater than the sum of its parts, with no true superstars on the roster like an Aaron Donald or a J.J. Watt. Rookie first-round draft pick N’Keal Harry hopefully represents a bright future at the receiver position for the Patriots, but it’s still way too early to tell how he’ll pan out for this team.
Some could say the same applies for Michel. After all, the former Georgia Bulldog has just 13 regular season games under his belt, along with three postseason games. A 16-game sample size is hardly large enough to come to any definitive conclusions… and yet the feeling around Gillette Stadium is that Belichick and the Pats may have found something really special in Michel, whom they selected with the 31st pick in last year’s draft.
When he was healthy last season, it was hard to stop him. In just 13 games of action and eight starts, Michel rumbled for 931 yards and six touchdowns while amassing a 4.5 yards per carry average. That would have been impressive enough as is, but then Michel got to the playoffs, and that’s where his star simply exploded.
In wins over the L.A. Chargers, K.C. Chiefs, and L.A. Rams, Michel improved his average to 4.7 yards per tote, scoring a rookie-record six postseason touchdowns after running for 336 yards on 71 carries. He had the game’s only touchdown in Super Bowl 53, and with all the red, white, and blue confetti falling from the rafters, one thing became abundantly clear about Michel’s rookie year: he proved without a doubt that he can be both a bellcow running back and the focal point of the Patriots’ offense, presumably for years to come.
It’s for those reasons that Michel stands a solid chance to carry the torch of the New England franchise long after Brady, Edelman, and Gronkowski are all gone. Assuming he doesn’t miss any significant time to injury, it’s safe to project Michel finishing amongst the Top-10 running backs in all of fantasy football this season.