The Patriots already have a few stars in place, but the next wave could be even more important as they try to keep building on the progress they’ve made. Drake Maye and Christian Gonzalez have already become central pieces, and the additions made since the Mike Vrabel era began have given New England more high-end talent to work with.
A.J. Brown, Milton Williams, and Kevin Byard are already proven names.
Brown owns six 1,000-yard seasons and three All-Pro selections. Williams has been a force since landing the largest contract in team history last offseason.
Byard reached his third All-Pro after leading the league in interceptions for the second time in his career.
But if the Patriots are going to keep stacking wins and stay on top of the AFC East, they’ll need more players to climb into that superstar tier in 2026 and beyond. Three names stand out.
TreVeyon Henderson is the obvious one. New England took him with the 38th pick in 2025, the first time the team used a second-round pick on a backfield player since Shane Vereen in 2011.
His season started slowly. Through the first seven weeks, he averaged only 6.1 carries per game, had just one game with 10 or more carries, and managed 3.6 yards per carry with one touchdown.
Then things began to turn. In Week 5, Henderson logged 10 carries for 75 yards, only the second time all year he reached double-digit attempts. From the Browns game through the end of the season, he topped 10 carries in nine of 10 games, with the lone exception coming against the Ravens, when he left after five carries because of an injury.
Over his final 10 games, Henderson averaged 75.8 rushing yards per game, scored eight rushing touchdowns, and ran for more than 5.5 yards per carry. His receiving role stayed limited, though he did catch his first career receiving touchdown against the Jets in Week 11.
With another year in the system, he could be headed for a top-five rushing season. If you stretch that 75.8-yard average over a 17-game schedule, it comes out to 1,288 yards, which would have ranked sixth in the league and ahead of both Jahmyr Gibbs and Christian McCaffrey.
Jared Wilson is another player set up to take a big step. Last season, he was forced to play left guard, but that won’t be the case in 2026. After Garrett Bradbury was traded to the Chicago Bears, the Patriots moved Wilson to center and brought in Alijah Vera-Tucker on a three-year deal to handle the left guard spot.
Wilson entered the draft with plenty of buzz as the top center in the class and a top-50 talent, but he didn’t come off the board until Pick 95 in the third round. Next Gen Stats still graded him as the most productive center in the class at 82/99, the most athletic center at 96/99, and the best overall center at 82/99. His rookie year wasn’t special, but he finished strong, avoiding a sack over the final five weeks and posting two clean games.
He may not get the same attention as the other new pieces on the offensive line, but Wilson should benefit from the reshuffling around him. With Vera-Tucker to his left, Mike Onwenu to his right, and a return to his natural position, the Patriots should be expecting solid center play from the Georgia alum, much like they did for years from another Bulldog, David Andrews.
Carlton Davis rounds out the group. His first season in New England was uneven after he signed a three-year, $60 million deal last offseason.
The hope was that he would give the Patriots steady play opposite Gonzalez, but that didn’t always happen. In the regular season, he allowed a 61.8% completion rate, gave up 427 yards and four touchdowns, and was flagged nine times.
He did not miss a game.
The postseason told a different story. Davis tightened things up over four games, allowing a 50% completion rate and 88 yards while drawing four penalties, three of them against the Texans in the divisional round. In that same game, he picked off two passes, his first and second interceptions of the season.
Now he gets another year in Zak Kuhr’s system, and that matters. His first season had its rough patches, but the Patriots have seen players settle in after a rocky start before. With Gonzalez on the other side and Byard helping clean up the back end, Davis has a real chance to carry that postseason form into 2026 and make a leap in Year 2.
In Other News...
Patriots May Have No Choice But To Make This Tight End Trade
The Patriots went into the offseason knowing tight end was a position they had to address, and the plan briefly looked manageable after they added Eli Raridon for depth. Julian Hills injury changed the equation, though, and it left New England in the market for a young veteran who could help sooner rather than later as the roster takes shape after the Super Bowl loss.
One possible path is a trade, especially if a tight end sitting behind a star on another depth chart becomes available. The Raiders have reasons to listen, and New England has the kind of draft capital and young receiver talent that could help grease a deal, but the real question is whether the Patriots are willing to pay enough to get the kind of player they need at a spot that suddenly feels a lot more urgent. [Read more 🡒]
Will Campbell Just Answered A Huge Patriots Fear
Will Campbell spent the offseason around some of the leagues better offensive linemen, working with Lane Johnson, Dion Dawkins and Tyler Guyton as he tries to sharpen the parts of his game that were exposed during a rocky rookie year. For a Patriots team that used the No. 4 overall pick on him, the focus has been on helping Campbell settle in, clean up the rough edges and look more like the player they believed they were getting when they made him their left tackle of the future.
The bigger backdrop is what happened in Super Bowl LX, where Campbells performance only added to the scrutiny that had started building late in the season. There had been plenty of noise about whether his best long-term fit might be somewhere else on the line, but New England has made clear it views him as a tackle and expects him to keep working on the blindside job the Patriots drafted him to handle. [Read more 🡒]
CBS Just Gave Drake Maye Another Patriots Fans Wont Forget
CBS Sports latest quarterback rankings gave Drake Maye a respectable but still eye-catching spot in the middle of the pack, placing the Patriots young passer 16th among NFL starters and in the outlets Borderline Stars tier. For a player who led the league in completion percentage and passer rating while helping push New England to the Super Bowl, it is a reminder that the national conversation has not quite caught up to the production.
The comparison at the top of the list only sharpens the debate, with Matthew Stafford landing above Maye despite the Patriots quarterbacks standout season. CBS pointed to the difference in surrounding conditions, noting Maye took more sacks and worked with a less effective receiving corps than Stafford did, and that context will matter again as New England keeps trying to build a more complete offense around him. [Read more 🡒]