With the Friday news Julian Edelman is not going to pursue any further appeals when it comes to his four-game ban for a PED violation, there’s now some clarity around his situation when it comes to the first month of the regular season.
But it puts the capper on an eventful offseason for the wide receiver position for the Patriots. No spot has seen more action over the last few months. The Patriots lost Danny Amendola in free agency, and traded away Brandin Cooks. They added Jordan Matthews and Cordarelle Patterson in free agency and Braxton Berrios in the draft. Meanwhile, they anticipated the (eventual) return of Edelman and Malcolm Mitchell, both of whom spent all of 2017 on the shelf because of knee issues. Amazingly, with training camp set to kick off next week, there are only two receivers returning who actually had a role on the field at the end of last season -- Chris Hogan and Phillip Dorsett. (That's in addition to youngsters Riley McCarron and Cody Hollister, who were practice squadders last year.)
That’s a lot of moving parts for a position that had enjoyed a measure of stability over the previous few seasons. One constant? Receivers coach Chad O’Shea. His return should be able to create some continuity. But he’ll have his work cut out for himself, at least when it comes to the first month of the season.
As surely as summer follows spring, someone will ask Bill Belichick over the first few days of training camp how they plan to replace Edelman’s production over the first month of the season. And just as surely, Belichick will respond with some variation of the old maxim: You can’t replace Julian Edelman with one guy. As we noted here, it’ll be a collective. There will be a heavy reliance on slotback James White, but there should be opportunities for a wide variety of people.
(One thing to keep in mind: Rob Gronkowski was going to get a ton of targets regardless, and as we've seen over the course of his career, his presence minimizes any sort of personnel issues at wide receiver. This is more of a focus specifically on the position, the depth chart, and how specific targets will be distributed with Edelman gone.)
Ultimately, even though there’s a resolution to Edelman’s status, here are three questions we still have about the wide receiver position heading into training camp.
1. How is Mitchell’s knee? He’s the biggest wild card at this point. After a season on the sideline — after a really impressive rookie year — he was limited to a cameo in spring workouts. Based on that, I’d look for him to start camp on PUP. If he can’t go, guys toward the back end of the depth chart like Kenny Britt might get more opportunities, and New England could revisit the possibility of Eric Decker. It'll also create a greater reliance on Hogan, a versatile pass catcher who has played in the slot and on the outside and has a nice chemistry with the quarterback. Really though, regardless of what happens with Mitchell, if Hogan stays healthy, he could be in for a big season.)
2. Where’s the comfort level within the offense of some of the newcomers? Matthews certainly has potential to be a slot presence in New England, but the jury is still out on whether or not his massive numbers his first two years in the league were a result of him in a high-volume passing system or a true indicator of his talents. Berrios is an intriguing prospect, but is also young and raw. The ceiling? Edelman in 2009, but that’s the best possible scenario. At this point, I’d consider Patterson a gadget/trick-play type who’s real value will be on special teams.
3. Will Kenny Britt and Phillip Dorsett emerge as bonafide threats? There were no pads, but before he went down in the spring, Britt looked really impressive. And a full offseason in the Patriots’ program can only help matters. And as the speediest pure receiver left on the roster, Dorsett could be poised to step into Cooks’ shoes. Regardless, a full offseason in the New England system will only benefit the duo. We’ll see if that translates to the practice field come next week.