The fate of the 2022 Patriots will mostly be determined by how well Mac Jones plays in his second season.

Of course, the quarterback is the most important position in football, so the same thing could be said about every other team. But there's still 21 other positions on the field (along with special teams) that each play some role in the final record of the season.

As the NFL continues to be a pass-dominant league, the biggest X-factor for the Patriots will be involved in the air game in some way – but not on offense.

Patriots' X-factor: CB Jalen Mills

Mills is set to begin his first regular season in an unfamiliar role: CB1.

The Patriots let Pro Bowl corner J.C. Jackson walk in free agency this offseason after he received a monster contract from the Los Angeles Chargers. Instead of replacing Jackson with a proven commodity from outside the team, New England opted to promote from within.

Mills is the beneficiary of that, which brings a lot of uncertainty to the Patriots' secondary entering the 2022 season. When New England signed him a year ago, Mills was more of a saftey/nickel corner hybrid. Stephon Gilmore's hold-in and injury before his eventual midseason trade introduced Mills to a new role of having to play outside corner – opposite of Jackson.

Mills' insertion as an outside corner brought some less-than-desired results at first. After a string of pedestrian performances, Mills was torched by the Cowboys in Week 6. He allowed six receptions on eight targets for 75 yards and two touchdowns in that game, including the game-winning touchdown pass to CeeDee Lamb in overtime.

Things began to change a bit for Mills as the season went along. He allowed more than two catches just once in the Patriots' final nine games. Of course, most of that came against opposing teams' No. 2 receiver and not their No. 1 receiver. The Patriots also made a midseason philosophy change to shift from man-to-man coverage to more of a zone scheme, which appeared to make Mills a bit more comfortable.

How will Mills do in a more important role while possibly working in a different scheme? The unofficial early returns provided mixed results.

In training camp, Mills won a fair amount of battles against fellow Patriots receiver DeVante Parker in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills. When joint practices came around, Mills performed well against Panthers receiver D.J. Moore. Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold completed very few passes to Moore over the two days, with Mills breaking up a couple of passes and even recording an interception in the other targets to the Panthers' top wideout.

Mills didn't fare as well during the joint practices with the Raiders. Star receiver Davante Adams constantly torched Mills over the two days. In fairness to Mills, not many corners have had success against Adams over the last two seasons as he's recorded 29 touchdown receptions and nearly 3,000 receiving yards over that stretch.

Still, Mills' struggles against Adams could be a worrying trend for the Patriots. New England faces several top receivers this season, such as Adams, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Stefon Diggs (twice), Tyreek Hill (twice), and DeAndre Hopkins.

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If Mills isn't able to slow down those top receivers in those games, the Patriots might be doomed. Mills is the clear leader of a cornerback room that either lacks experience (two rookies in Marcus Jones and Jack Jones could see a significant amount of playing time) or has players playing in a new role (Jonathan Jones is set to play on the outside after playing mostly as the nickel for much of his career). So, Mills bears a lot of responsibility this season among the Patriots' corners.

Not only are there big questions outside of Mills in the secondary, but if the Patriots' defense allows games to become shootouts, they might not have the offensive personnel to keep up. Mac Jones had a good rookie season, but the Patriots' new zone blocking scheme had him under duress for much of training camp and the preseason.

But if Mills is able to just slow down most of those receivers when the Patriots play them, New England might be in very good shape this season. Not only would Mills turning into a standout corner limit what the opposing offense could do in those games, but it would also allow the Patriots to control the game the way it would like on offense.

The fate of the Patriots' 2022 season will likely be determined by Mac Jones, but outside of him, Jalen Mills'  play might have the biggest impact on how well they perform.