UPDATE: JK
In case you have been living under a rock for the past week, Antonio Brown is now a member of the Patriots and played in the team’s Week 2 game in Miami. He led the Patriots with 8 targets and caught 4 balls for 56 yards and a touchdown on a pretty sweet back shoulder throw. He’s one of the best NFL receivers of all time, so it makes sense to have him heavily involved, and Brady is going to love his skill/talent.
It’s only been one game, but it’s pretty evident that Tom Brady has a shiny new toy at his disposal, and he very much likes his new toy. Consider Antonio Brown is Brady’s Buzz Lightyear, leaving ol’ reliable Julian Edelman as the proverbial Woody. Josh Gordon, I guess can be Rex.
It likely won’t always be this kind of game script where the Patriots are simply murdering the opposition and can run through the motions on offense while killing the clock. Maybe it will be that way against the Jets this week, but still you get the point. Edelman had the steepest of drops going from 11 to 4 targets between Weeks 1 and 2. Some of the intermediate and across the field routes generally run by Edelman were being occupied by Brown. AB’s presence itself knocks Edelman down from the WR1 role in the offense to the WR2, and in doing so pushes Gordon down to WR3. Gordon himself seemed like a ghost until later in the game when he caught two passes on back to back plays in the third quarter. That was it though for him.
It’s a tough hit on both Edelman and Gordon’s stocks moving forward as long as Brown can manage to keep himself on the field. He’s the most talented pass catcher they have and appears to be fitting right in. If Brown remains on the field for the rest of the season and continues to see this target share from Brady, then Edelman and Gordon’s target projections take a sizable hit.
While Brown carries serious risk with him, he still sits at WR24 in Wolf’s Rest of Season Big Board. Edelman comes in at WR19 and Gordon at WR37.
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