For the past two decades, the New England Patriots were one of, if not the first team you talked about when speaking on potential Super Bowl contenders for the upcoming season.

The 2020 season will be one of the most difficult campaigns that Bill Belichick has faced in quite some time as he's now looking at the prospects of heading into a regular-season without the quarterback he's won all six of his Super Bowl titles as a head coach with.

Below, you'll see three steps for the Patriots to remain in Super Bowl contention for the upcoming year.

When talking about the potential success (or failure) of the 2020 New England Patriots, you have to start at the quarterback position.

With the initial waves of free agency along with the 2020 draft coming and going and the Patriots doing nothing significant at the quarterback position, it appears like we're looking at an upcoming battle between veteran Brian Hoyer, who is on his third stint with the club, and second-year quarterback Jarrett Stidham. .

First, let me say that there is a case to be made for Hoyer to be the starting quarterback for New England in 2020.

If it's the Patriots' goal to contend for a Super Bowl next year, however, it's in the club's best interest to hang onto the All-Pro guard

Thuney has been a mainstay along the offensive line for New England's two most recent Super Bowl titles and the offensive line as a whole was especially dominant en-route to the Patriots' victory over the Rams in Super Bowl LIII. 

With New England poised to have a first-year starter at quarterback in 2020, having a guy like Thuney protecting him is vital

Clowney has expressed his desire to play for a Super Bowl contender wherever his next stop in the NFL is and, even without Tom Brady, I think Belichick could make an interesting pitch that New England is still a place to do that going forward, especially if he signs on to join this defense. 

As for the contract, Clowney doesn't seem to be getting what he wants on the open market, so Belichick could try and coax him to come to Foxborough on a one-year deal, ball out and hit the market again next offseason with a potential Super Bowl ring to add to his résumé

The Patriots would have to do some cap gymnastics to fit Clowney in, but he'd unquestionably raise the talent level on defense, make life easier on the offense, thus raising New England's Super Bowl ceiling that much higher.