How Much Has Our Receivers Improved?

[Ras-IR Dowling]

It was Jacobi Meyers who had a 170 yard game last year not Edelman. Love Jules but Edelman is the 4th receiver on this team now.

Edelman week 2 8 grabs for 179.

 

[Boston Boxer]

No doubt, and he won’t spend a dime by in free agency, he and Krafty Bob will cheap out per usual. Fe’cking Belichick, fe’cking cheap bastard.

we really need a sarcasim button

 

[IllegalContact]

This should be a productive thread, full of cogent analysis and incisive takes.

 

[Ivan]

It was Jacobi Meyers who had a 170 yard game last year not Edelman. Love Jules but Edelman is the 4th receiver on this team now.

Julian Edelman would be a better receiver than the rest of their WR’s if he had no legs.

 

[PScottman]

With the two TEs we have, having a loaded WR corps isn't as critical a need. There's only one ball.

Reasonable takes based on logic and critical thinking will NOT be tolerated.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Julian Edelman would be a better receiver than the rest of their WR’s if he had no legs.

Yea I love your intelligence, but in this case disagree. Jonnu Smith, Henry, Meyers, Agholor, Bourne should all be higher on the depth chart and priority play calling at this point. Jules can be the elderly statesman like Troy Brown

 

[Ivan]

Yea I love your intelligence, but in this case disagree. Jonnu Smith, Henry, Meyers, Agholor, Bourne should all be higher on the depth chart and priority play calling at this point. Jules can be the elderly statesman like Troy Brown

Henry and Smith aren’t WR’s, and anyone who thinks Agholor and Bourne are better WR’s than Edelman doesn’t actually watch football.

 

[LuRkeR1978]

I love being the Jets.

 

[Sicilian]

Henry and Smith aren’t WR’s, and anyone who thinks Agholor and Bourne are better WR’s than Edelman doesn’t actually watch football.

Not better than Edelman historically, but potentially better than what Edelman can give them this year. I'm hoping the guy comes back and plays like the Edelman of old, but precedent is not on his side given age and recent injuries. Either way, it would behoove the Pats to utilize more WR's in a rotation in order to keep him from taking a beating and keeping him fresh for a late season run.

 

[mikey m]

It's important to include the tight ends when evaluating the receivers because they look to get a high share of targets.

It's night and day. Last year we had Meyers and Byrd for the season. tHATS IT

This. If we're strictly looking at wide receivers we have a decent improvement, from the undoubted worst in the league to probably a little below average. If we're looking at pass catchers as whole it's almost hard to overstate how much better we should be. In addition to the above, we go from a guy who had no business being on the field, to having 2 top 8ish (IMO) all-around TEs in the game.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Our track record of WRs is atrocious ..

Nelson is no number 1

Bourne a JAG

Trade Harry

Draft Waddle!

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Our track record of WRs is atrocious ..

Nelson is no number 1

Bourne a JAG

Trade Harry

Draft Waddle!

 

[imahobgoblin]

The original question is the wrong one to ask. It should be how much has our offense improved? First, the o-line is going to be amazing. The running game should be much improved. Second, the overall offensive scheme will be based on 2 TE. That will create serious matchup problems and awesome run gaps. Agholor was brought in to take the top off because he will draw 1 on 1 if 2 TE are on the field. Its not about improving just the WR. Its about changing the entire offensive scheme.

 

[RIpats88]

Our track record of WRs is atrocious ..

Nelson is no number 1

Bourne a JAG

Trade Harry

Draft Waddle!

Our track record of receivers in Free agency isn't that atrocious. It's only the draft. Other than ochocinco and sanu (which looks like he's cooked as a player) pretty much every receiver Bill had signed has done decent here.

I still would like a stud type guy like waddle though

 

[RIpats88]

Henry and Smith aren’t WR’s, and anyone who thinks Agholor and Bourne are better WR’s than Edelman doesn’t actually watch football.

They are receiving options you can't discount them. Did we say the pats had no receivers when it was just Welker and Lloyd in 2012. Just discount hernandez and Gronk

 

[Uptown]

Too many are looking at the WRs in a vacuum. While I do agree that they’re by no means the most dynamic corp, all they have to do is get open & catch the ball. That’s it! Which all of them (NA, Meyers, Bourne & Edelman) have shown the ability to do. With our OL, running game & TEs, that’ll certainly alleviate any added pressure that we had last year (assuming the QB can actually process & deliver the football accurately). Maybe ppl don’t know, but Henry is a beast at TE (minus the injuries) & Smith is a pretty dynamic weapon who can also block; which will keep the offense in stealthy fashion. Henry was amongst the best in the league as a blocker before his injury a couple seasons ago. Hopefully, he can regain that level of in-line blocking. 12/13/21/22 etc personnel should be nasty. Mix in the occasional deep shot to NA & others, and we should be fine. If BB decides to add other weapons such as one of the top WRs, one of the “Moores,” Brown, Marshall, Toney etc...then even better to open up the offense even further. Let’s see the product on the field first, before burning our WRs at the stake.

 

[sb1]

From a pile of horse crap to a pile of dirt? Not as putrid and you can do some things with dirt.

 

[mgteich]

Henry and Smith aren’t WR’s, and anyone who thinks Agholor and Bourne are better WR’s than Edelman doesn’t actually watch football.

Anyone who thinks that Edelman is a better 2021 downfield threat than Agholor doesn't watch football.

 

[mgteich]

I don't think you are remembering correctly:

Julian Edelman 2020 Stats per Game - NFL - ESPN

The 2020 NFL season stats per game for Julian Edelman of the New England Patriots on ESPN. Includes full stats, per opponent, for regular and postseason.

www.espn.com

This must be fake news. They couldn't have these games with the worst QB in football.

 

[Sicilian]

This must be fake news. They couldn't have these games with the worst QB in football.

Cam Newton's issues really were with consistency. Having a few guys have breakout games isn't really surprising over a 16 game schedule.

That said, there does seem to be a disconnect between all the narratives on the Patriots last year, and which ones were exaggerated. In regards to the 2020 Patriots, we've heard:

- They had the worst starting QB in the league.
- They had the worst collection of skill position players in the league.
- They were constantly gashed on the ground on defense.
- They played a really hard schedule.

Hearing those things about a team, you'd expect them to be a 4 win team at most, but they won 7 and really only got blown out a couple of times (won't give them credit for close games they lost, but they weren't outmatched most of the time).

That tells me that at least one of the narratives above were overblown, OR, the strengths of the team (OL, Secondary, and coaching) were so overwhelmingly good that they made up for the vast deficiencies everywhere else.