The Patriots are running back a experiment that failed once already. Jared Wilson, their 2025 third-round pick, is sliding from left guard to center, the spot he played at Georgia and the spot he actually opened his rookie training camp at before things went sideways with the snap exchange to Drake Maye. New England punted on that plan last summer, moved Wilson to guard, and let veteran Garrett Bradbury handle center duties instead. A year later, Bradbury is a Chicago Bear, the center job is open again, and Wilson is right back in the middle of the line.
This time the roster is built to make the switch stick. New England signed former Jet Alijah Vera-Tucker to take over at left guard, which frees Wilson to focus on one job instead of learning a new one on the fly. The projected front five now runs Will Campbell at left tackle, Vera-Tucker at guard, Wilson at center, Mike Onwenu at right guard and Morgan Moses at right tackle. It is a more veteran, more settled group than the one that tried to force Wilson into center cold last year, which matters because center-quarterback chemistry isn't something you fake.
Maye has been talking Wilson up all camp, calling him a natural at the position and pointing out the mental side is where this really gets decided. Communication at the line, per Maye, means Wilson has to own the huddle in a way he didn't as a guard: 'you've got to be loud, you've got to be me and you, it's our show.' They've already had one hiccup in camp, with Maye holding the cadence a beat too long and catching Wilson off guard, which is exactly the kind of rep-by-rep glitch you'd expect this early. Mike Vrabel has framed the whole thing as an unspoken language between center and quarterback that either clicks or it doesn't, and there isn't much of a dress rehearsal before the games count.
For fantasy purposes, this is a stability story more than a talent story. Maye is already being drafted as a locked-in QB2 or QB3 depending on the site, with ADP sitting anywhere from the mid-50s to the 9th round depending on format, and expert rankings clustering him between QB2 and QB6. That range exists because Maye's weapons got a real upgrade this offseason, but a shaky interior line can undercut all of it fast. A center who can't consistently deliver a clean snap turns easy first downs into fumbles, throws off shotgun tempo and puts more pressure on Maye's legs to bail him out. None of that shows up in a preseason highlight reel, but it shows up in week 4 when a bad exchange costs a scoring drive.
It's also worth noting DeAndre Hopkins is around this camp working with the offensive coaching staff and mentoring young players, Maye included, which is a small but real veteran-influence angle for a locker room trying to speed up its learning curve at multiple spots at once. That kind of presence doesn't move fantasy rankings, but it's part of why the Patriots feel more confident forcing this center experiment through a second time instead of bailing again.
The receiver room is where the real fantasy fallout lives, and it isn't good news for Kayshon Boutte. He put together a highlight-worthy 35-yard diving catch in the same practice session, but that flash masks a brutal numbers game. New England has reshaped its receiver corps this offseason, and Boutte is now fighting Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas and Kyle Williams for scraps behind the new-look top of the depth chart. He finished 2025 as a WR51 on just 33 catches on 46 targets across 14 games despite a gaudy 17.0 average depth of target, and his 2026 ADP has cratered into the 200s. He's a deep-league dart throw and dynasty stash at best right now, banked entirely on volume drying up for someone else.
What to watch as camp rolls on: whether Wilson's snap issues actually disappear or just get quieter, how the Vera-Tucker signing settles in next to him, and whether the receiver shakeup pushes Boutte onto the trade block before cuts. If Wilson figures out center for real this time, Maye's QB1 upside gets a lot easier to bet on. If the same problems from last summer resurface, this becomes a very familiar story with a very familiar ending.