With the New England Patriots set to kick off the NFL season with a Super Bowl LX rematch on the road against the Seattle Seahawks this week, here are four players (two on offense, two on defense) who will be critical to the team’s success on game day.
If these guys turn in some big individual outings, it could make the difference in helping New England start the 2026 campaign on a high note, and also get a little revenge on the franchise that denied them a championship back in February.
Players who will be X-factors for the Patriots against the Seahawks in Week 1
LT Will Campbell
One of the biggest storylines following the Patriots’ Super Bowl LX defeat was the brutal play of left tackle Will Campbell, who allowed eight pressures and a sack in the big game, while earning the second-lowest Pro Football Focus grade (38.2) among New England offensive players.
That’s a stark drop-off from his PFF grades during the regular season, which included a 72.5 overall score (34th among tackles league-wide) and a 76.1 pass-blocking mark (28th among tackles).
The 2025 fourth overall pick was clearly hampered by the torn right MCL he suffered in late November. While it’s admirable that Campbell rushed back in an effort to aid the team’s postseason run, he ultimately just wasn’t healthy enough to be effective in his first meeting with Seattle.
This go-around, Campbell should be much closer to 100% and very motivated to put that poor Super Bowl showing behind him, something the Patriots will need to happen for quarterback Drake Maye to be allowed time in the pocket to look like the MVP candidate he was last season.
RB Rhamondre Stevenson
With the Patriots being held scoreless through the first three quarters of Super Bowl LX, rushing opportunities for running back Rhamondre Stevenson, who tied a career high with seven touchdowns on the ground in 2025, quickly evaporated as the contest progressed.
However, he still managed to remain involved in the game plan, hauling in a tied-for-team-high five catches, which included a seven-yard touchdown grab that ended up being New England’s final score of the game.
The Oklahoma product finished the game as the New England offense’s fourth-highest-graded player by PFF (69.5).
Coming off a really solid training camp, the Patriots will hope Stevenson can carry that momentum into the regular season and be a threat on the ground early against Seattle. Like Campbell, a successful outing from Stevenson will make things easier for Maye and dictate a much different flow to the game than the last time these two squads met.
New England might be forced to lean pretty heavily on their lead rusher in Week 1, as backup TreVeyon Henderson has missed practice due to an injury, and third-string option Corey Kiner only recently joined the team via a trade just a little more than a week ago.
EDGE Dre'Mont Jones
Among the franchise’s biggest free-agent signings this offseason, New England will need edge rusher Dre'Mont Jones to begin his tenure with the franchise on a high note.
After tallying a career-high seven sacks a season ago, the Patriots envision the addition of Jones to replace the production lost by the departure of the team’s second-highest sack producer last season, K'Lavon Chaisson.
In Week 1, though, the former Baltimore Ravens pass rusher won’t just need to supplant the loss of Chaisson, but also pick up the slack created by fellow edge defender Harold Landry III, the Patriots' 2025 sack leader, beginning the year on the physically unable to perform list.
Getting after the quarterback will be a major key to success in this matchup against the Seahawks, whose signal caller Sam Darnold struggled last season while under duress, earning a PFF grade of49.3 when facing pressure (which ranked 26th in the NFL), a big drop-off from the 91.7 grade he produced from clean pockets (the league’s sixth-best mark).
CB Christian Gonzalez
The Patriots front office wisely avoided having prolonged contract negotiations with star cornerback Christian Gonzalez hang over the team throughout the season by locking him up on a four-year/$135 million extension a day before their 2026 campaign commences.
Now the 2025 Pro Bowler will need to live up to the lucrative terms of that deal (which reportedly include the largest signing bonus ever at his position), and he’ll have a chance to begin doing just that with a marquee Week 1 battle against Seahawks All-Pro wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
Gonzalez got the better of this matchup the last time the pair faced off, as he held Smith-Njigba to just four catches for 27 yards, while recording a team-high three pass deflections in Super Bowl LX.
The Oregon product ended the game with a PFF grade of 80.6, second-best among Patriots defenders.
New England will need a similarly stifling performance from Gonzalez against JSN to hold last season’s NFL receiving yards leader in check, and potentially force a much-needed interception, something the Patriots failed to do in the Super Bowl, and their big-money corner didn’t come away with last year until the waning minutes of the AFC Championship Game.
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