Two rookies from Alabama helped the New England Patriots return to the playoffs this season after a one-year absence.
The Patriots’ 7-9 showing in 2020 ended an 11-season run in the playoffs and broke a 19-year streak of winning seasons.
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In the 2021 NFL Draft, New England used its first pick on Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and its second pick on Alabama defensive tackle Christian Barmore.
Jones started every game and Barmore played in every game as the Patriots posted a 10-7 record.
In 17 regular-season games, Jones completed 352-of-521 passes for 3,801 yards with 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions and ran for 129 yards on 44 carries in his first season.
In NFL history among rookie quarterbacks, Jones’ completion rate of 67.6 percent ranks second, his 3,801 passing yards rank fifth and his 92.5 passing-efficiency rating ranks sixth.
Jones’ rookie season ended with the Patriots’ 47-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills in a Super Wild-Card Weekend game on Saturday. The rookie QB completed 24-of-38 passes for 232 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.
Jones joined the New Orleans Saints’ Aaron Brooks and the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott as the only rookies to pass for at least 232 yards and two touchdowns in their first playoff starts.
“Mac helped us a lot, and we look forward to working with him next year,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “We all have things we need to work on, and that goes for every player, and that’ll be part of the conversation with every player and for the coaching staff -- what we all individually and collectively need to improve on.”
Barmore played 598 defensive snaps as a rookie, the second-most among New England’s defensive linemen. Barmore had 46 tackles, 1.5 sacks, three tackles for loss and two passes defended. His nine quarterback hits ranked second among the Patriots in 2021.
“Christian played a lot of snaps this year,” Belichick said. “He took a lot of snaps in practice. He was a durable and dependable player for us. I think he has a real good future.”
Belichick said Barmore, Jones and the rest of New England’s 2021 rookies would be better prepared in 2022 than they were for their first seasons.
“As we all know, it’s a very long season in the National Football League,” Belichick said, “especially for a rookie that has the time in the spring and then has training camp, where they’re really challenged a lot more than players who have been through that. It’s just the first time through. It’s tough. And then it’s a long season and a lot of time to manage and everybody gets banged up over an NFL season, and those are all difficult parts of being a rookie, so everybody goes through it, and this year’s group went through it this year and next year’s group will go through it next year. I’d say each player’s situation is usually a little bit different, but the commonality is that there’s some degree of that, so we’ve talked to all those players about it over the course of the year, at the beginning and at training camp and during the season, at the end of the season. And talking about it and actually experiencing it are two different things.
“I’m sure all those players will be better prepared for the length and the challenges of an NFL regular season than they were this year, like we all were after the first year. So I thought in general, our rookie class was a mature class. They handled things well, but it was their first year, and, hopefully, they’ll learn and grow from it and be able to use the experience this year to move to a higher level next year.”
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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