The New England Patriots made headlines today when they placed wide receiver Josh Gordon on the injured reserve. Gordon suffered a knee injury in Week 6, but the injury wasn’t expected to be serious. As it turns out, the Patriots plan to release Gordon once he’s healthy so that he can latch on with another team. In essence, Gordon is currently too injured to release, so the Patriots used the injured reserve to create a roster spot and will release him once he’s healthy.
The Patriots made this move one day after acquiring Mohamed Sanu and just a week after first-round rookie N’Keal Harry returned to practice. Bill Belichick clearly believes these two are better options than Josh Gordon, so let’s take a look at New England’s upstart wide receiver depth chart.
New England Patriots Wide Receiver Depth Chart Without Josh Gordon
Known Commodities: Julian Edelman, Phillip Dorsett
No matter how good Sanu and Harry are, this offense will always run through Julian Edelman. Even at the ripe age of 33, Edelman remains the most important member of the offense not named Tom Brady. Edelman hasn’t looked 100% ever since suffering a rib injury in Week 3, but he’s still capable of getting open against any coverage and moving the chains whenever his number is called. Edelman and Brady have unrivaled chemistry, and the duo should remain inseparable as long as both players remain healthy.
Phillip Dorsett isn’t capable of doing everything Edelman can do, but he’s developed into a solid complementary receiver. While he’s never going to be a 1,000-yard receiver, he catches everything thrown at him and runs a complete route tree. Additionally, Brady trusts him to do exactly what he expects on every single snap. Additionally, Dorsett and Brady have developed a rapport in the red zone over the past two seasons. At least in the short term, look for Dorsett to see most of the snaps opposite Edelman.
First Off the Bench: Jakobi Meyers
Jakobi Meyers is not your average undrafted free agent. After impressing throughout training camp and the preseason, Meyers has steadily increased his role in New England’s passing attack. Over the past two weeks, Meyers has caught all nine of his targets for 101 yards. This isn’t a Kenbrell Thompkins situation where he’s simply catching passes because there’s nobody else around, Meyers legitimately has the skill and talent required to last in this league.
As discussed back in August, Jakobi Meyers isn’t the most athletic player in the world. However, he’s fundamentally sound, does all the little things right, and has a great pair of hands. Boasting impressive body control, Meyers is able to box out defenders and win jump balls while ensuring the defender doesn’t have a chance to break up the pass. These skills came to perfect fruition in Week 6 against the New York Giants, and Meyers should only improve with time.
In the short term, look for Meyers to be the primary guy in three-receiver sets. However, as the season progresses, Mohamed Sanu and N’Keal Harry will probably eat into his snaps. However, for the time being, Meyers should remain a valuable part of the passing attack.
High-Upside Unknowns: Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry
Mohamed Sanu and N’Keal Harry both have fantastic upside, but relatively limited ceilings. There are already been enough breakdowns on how Sanu fits the offense, so we won’t too much time on that here. In short, Sanu is a polished route runner capable of lining up all over the formation. In theory, he fits the offense perfectly.
Similarly, N’Keal Harry has an ideal skill set for New England’s offense. Once again, there are enough breakdowns, so we won’t waste too much time on it here. Basically, he’s a lot like Anquan Boldin. Harry has the size to catch anything thrown his way and could be New England’s next great red zone weapon.
The biggest concern with both of these players is developing chemistry with Tom Brady. Sanu has obviously never set foot on the same field as Brady, while Harry hasn’t played since the first week of the preseason. You can have all the talent in the world, and it won’t matter if Brady can’t trust you to do your job. This concern is increased for Harry, as wide receivers throughout the league typically need a year or two before they’re ready to be regular contributors. Look for both players to see smaller, gameplan-specific roles in the short term before hopefully developing into key cogs in the offense.
Worse Than Josh Gordon: Gunner Olszewski
Gunner Olszewski is technically a wide receiver, but he’s really just here to return punts. If he ever sees meaningful snaps on offense, something has gone horribly, horribly wrong. Keeping Olszewski over Josh Gordon was something of a surprise, but the special teams value clearly made Gordon expendable.
Main photo:
Embed from Getty Images
