It's hard to imagine a better start to the preseason than what the Patriots experienced in their first matchup with the Lions Thursday night. A 31-3 victory, no major injuries as of yet, and plenty of experience to develop potential future building blocks.
As you can imagine, a game like that produces some high grades from places like Pro Football Focus. Here's a look at their highest graded offensive players for the Patriots in Week 1 of preseason.
1. BRIAN HOYER: 88.3
Hoyer had a very efficient performance against the Lions. He wasn't in for long, but he completed 12 of his 14 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns. A good sign for the Pats quarterback depth going into Tom Brady's age-42 season.
2. JARRETT STIDHAM: 84.8
Stidham impressed in his first game at the professional level, completing 14-of-24 throws for 179 yards and one touchdown. Phil Perry goes deeper into Stidham's performance against the Lions here.
New England Patriots
3. BRANDON BOLDEN: 83.9
Bolden was featured heavily early on in this game, finishing with 12 carries for 41 yards and two receptions for 19 yards. Bolden has mostly been utilized as a special-teamer in his Patriots career, but maybe he's in line for more of a role on offense.
4. DONTRELLE INMAN: 78.2
Inman only caught two passes for 23 yards, but he must have done something right to earn a higher grade than Maurice Harris and Jakobi Meyers.
5. MATT LACOSSE: 76.5
LaCosse exited the game with an injury, but not before he caught two balls for 37 yards. He must've been solid in the run game to earn a grade this high, which is a good sign for a Patriots team trying to replace an elite blocking tight end in Rob Gronkowski.
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