2 Patriots named to Pro Football Focus' All-Average team

75756A5E-120A-4932-810C-2FD980DB785E

Given the times, many outlets are putting together different lists and teams.

Sam Monson and Steve Palazzolo of Pro Football Focus recently put together a NFL All-Average team, which was released on the PFF NFL podcast, and two members of the Patriots made the cut -- tackle Marcus Cannon and running back Sony Michel.

Pats Pulpit transcribed the reasons given as to why Michel and Cannon were included.

Michel: The guy that people were trying to give all the credit to for the 2018 Super Bowl run. And all his big runs were the perfect, classic, perfectly blocked runs. The run blocking was spectacular during that run — pretty much just the Chargers game and then a couple plays in the Rams game, but that’s Sony Michel accumulating all the stats but he has not really made guys miss in his two years as a runner, and he’s been very much a product of exactly what was in front of him.
Cannon: If you go through the course of his career, he started out poor, he did peak and look really good for two or three years, and he’s kind of regressed a little bit. When you take the body of work, Marcus Cannon lands in that spot. Particularly if you take Cannon out of a Dante Scarnecchia environment and say, “Alright, somewhere else — what does he look like?”

Other players with New England connections named to the team were wide receiver Dontrelle Inman, offensive lineman Josh Kline, edge rusher Adrian Clayborn, defensive tackle Malcom Brown and linebacker Jon Bostic.

Michel seems deserving as he really is only as good as what his offensive line gives him. It's hard to recall him ever making a big gain on his own by running over a defender of making on miss. As for Cannon, he has a case not to be on this list as he's one of the more underrated offensive tackles in the league and made a huge improvement from early on in his career.

Related