Patriots' Biggest Sleepers, Busts, Stars to Target in 2022 Fantasy Football Drafts

The New England Patriots have one of the most fascinating rosters to track from a fantasy football perspective.

New England has a second-year quarterback, a dynamic one-two punch at running back, an improved wide receiver group and a touchdown machine at tight end.

The challenge for fantasy managers is to pick out which members of the Patriots offense will be the stars throughout the 2022 season.

Mac Jones should receive a boost in his overall numbers, but his primary target is still up for debate. DeVante Parker should play a large role in the passing game, but he has to compete with Jakobi Meyers for targets.

Competition is also the buzz word at running back, where Rhamondre Stevenson may challenge Damien Harris for offensive snaps. That would be the worst-case scenario for fantasy players looking to target Harris after his outstanding 2021.

The surest thing when it comes to fantasy prospects inside the New England offense might be Hunter Henry, who had a career-best nine touchdowns last season.

Hunter Henry

Hunter Henry represents reliability.

The Patriots' top tight end recorded his third straight 600-yard season in 2021 and increased his fantasy impact by scoring on nine occasions.

Henry does not belong in the elite tier of tight ends alongside Travis Kelce and George Kittle, but he should be part of the second tier of players at the position chosen because of his scoring potential.

The 27-year-old is not a 1,000-yard receiver, but he can make up for that lack of high yardage in games with his red-zone presence.

New England faces a good number of questions as to how its running backs and wide receivers will be managed, but the tight end picture is clear. Henry outplayed Jonnu Smith in 2021, and the same outcome is expected in 2022.

Damien Harris

Damien Harris is the guy in the backfield until proved otherwise.

The 25-year-old broke out in his third NFL season with 909 rushing yards and 15 ground touchdowns. He was a steady force in the New England backfield, while Rhamondre Stevenson's status seemed like a guessing game for most of the season.

Harris provided consistency to the Patriots offense, and he should do so again in 2022 with more expectations on his shoulders.

The Alabama product received 202 carries last year. If he gets close to that total in 2022, he will be expected to record his first 1,000-yard campaign.

Harris' touchdown potential has to excite fantasy football players the most. Everyone needs a running back who can find the end zone twice in a game on a regular basis. He did that three times in 2021 and had one three-score game.

As long as Harris is the No. 1 running back and does not have Stevenson cut into his playing time, his fantasy stock will continue to rise.

DeVante Parker

Cautious optimism surrounds DeVante Parker in his first season with the Patriots.

On paper, the 29-year-old could finish training camp as the No. 1 wide receiver ahead of Jakobi Meyers, but that not may be enough for fantasy players to throw trust behind the former Miami Dolphins wideout.

Parker has not had a 1,000-yard season since 2019 and that was his only time over that mark in his seven-year career.

The Louisville product has not played an entire 16- or 17-game season in his career and he has only scored more than five touchdowns on a single occasion.

Read those last two lines again before you buy into any hype about him coming out of Patriots camp.

Sure, Parker could buck all of his career trends and be New England's top offseason acquisition, but there are more concerns than there should be for a potential No. 1 wide receiver.

Jonnu Smith

Anyone who drafted Jonnu Smith over Hunter Henry in 2021 knows how quickly Smith's production fell off.

The 26-year-old lost out on the primary tight end job to Henry and produced just a single touchdown in his first season with the Patriots.

Smith was a useful target during his four seasons with the Tennessee Titans, and his eight-touchdown season in 2020 earned him a multi-year free-agent deal with the Patriots.

The FIU product comes into the 2022 season as the sixth or seventh option in the red zone behind Henry, the two running backs and whichever wide receivers are on the field.

Some may see Smith as a low-risk, high-reward second tight end, but the competition has only gotten tougher in New England for a player who failed to make an impact in 2021.

Jakobi Meyers

Please score more touchdowns.

Jakobi Meyers has been listed as a potential sleeper in fantasy football circles for the last two seasons, but the touchdowns are not there to justify keeping him on some rosters.

The 25-year-old finally scored his first TD for the Patriots last season. He finished with a pair of scores. That's not good enough to keep him on a roster when others are finding the end zone with more regularity.

The yardage is there for the NC State product. He went from 729 yards in 2021 to 866 in 2022. He caught 24 more passes last season than the previous year.

Meyers' usage inside the Patriots offense and connection with Mac Jones gives you a lot to like, but it all comes back to touchdowns.

If he finally breaks out as a consistent scoring threat, Meyers' fantasy value will skyrocket, but until that happens, he is still a middle-of-the-pack wideout because others can score more for you on a weekly basis.

Mac Jones

Mac Jones had a nice rookie season from a fantasy perspective. He threw for 3,801 yards and 22 touchdowns, but he had 13 interceptions.

Parker's addition and Meyers' continued improvement should allow the quarterback to increase his touchdown total in his sophomore season.

But since we are just projecting and the top two wide receivers come with some questions, Jones is still in the mid-to-bottom part of the starting quarterback rankings.

The 23-year-old should be the No. 2 QB on most fantasy rosters to start the season. Only the bold players would wait to land him as the top quarterback to get more production from other positions, but seems like a risk given what he's working with.

The Harris-Stevenson pair could be relied upon more in the red zone in certain games, and Jones needs his top two wideouts to shake off any concerns about them.

The best-case scenario for the Alabama product is that he throws for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns, but until he cashes in on that potential, he has to be viewed with sleeper value in fantasy football.