Our friend of the program, Adam Schefter, dropped a typical Friday night bomb on us when he announced Josh Gordon would be reinstated by the NFL and able to join the Patriots on Sunday, August 19th. Gordon immediately helps a depleted Patriots receiving core that not only has leaned on (undrafted) rookies, but has been missing Julian Edelman and Demaryius Thomas, and at times N’Keal Harry and Maurice Harris throughout training camp. In his 11 games with the Patriots last season, Gordon posted 40-720-4 on 68 targets — which would be the WR28 over that time period. This is a 64 rec, 1,047 yd and 6.4 touchdown pace that would make him a rock solid WR2.
What’s best about this is that Tom Brady will finally be able to work with Gordon, who was thrown into the fire during mid-season, and get on the same page for the beginning of the season. There were games in 2018 where the two weren’t on the same page and Brady would just force it to a double-covered Gordon.
In Flash’s three games played last season without Rob Gronkowski, he put up 4-100 on seven targets, 5-130-1 on nine targets and 4-81 on 12 targets. The duo of Gordon and Harry will give Brady some serious size on the outside, which will make life easier for TB12 in the red zone. This also allows wonder boy Jakobi Meyers to dip his toes into the offense, rather than throwing him into the show right away.
All in all, the Patriots offense is much better with Gordon on the field. The Wolf is in his cave crafting up his rankings now, which will likely have him around the WR30-35 range. Check back this weekend for a full in-depth article on Josh Gordon’s fantasy impact on the team.
And as Stephen A. Smith says, “STAY OFF THE WEED-DUH!”
