Patriots sign WR Jordan Matthews to a 1 Year Deal

[Bruins29]

Yeah, he should be a pretty clear-cut improvement to what Britt offers the team.

Yep and I still think Britt is a damn fine 5th WR who could certainly bring something more to the team.

It is also possible they are being careful with Edelman and may consider leaving him on active PUP to see how the others are doing in case he is not 100%. If he is not, and he may not be, reserve PUP is possible with; Hogan, Mitchell, Matthews, Britt, Dorsett, Patterson, holding it down for the first 6 weeks. Certainly doable with Gronk, White and Burkhead in the the mix.

Mitchell on PUP - or never regaining his form is also possible too.

 

[maineman209]

The (roughly) 9-13 ypc "intermediate target level" (boundary & seam, as well as MoF) has comprised the majority of the Pats passing attack for years. In 2016, it represented about 75% of the passing game.

In 2017, with Edelman and Mitchell on IR and Bennett gone in FA, that intermediate-level portion of the attack dropped to about 30% and it was carried almost entirely by Amendola and Hogan (and Hogan has been significantly better at the deep game with the Pats). Instead, the Pats passing attack relied much more heavily on the "deep game" (15-16+ ypc) with Cooks and Gronk (+ Dorsett), and on the "short game" (< 8 ypc) with the RBs, mainly Burkhead and White (+ some from Lewis).

As a golf analogy, Brady and McD had almost nothing but woods and wedges in their bags last season.

With Amendola now gone in FA, and with Edelman coming off an ACL and Mitchell's knee health an ongoing question, the Pats appear to be reinforcing intermediate target level staffing by trading for Patterson (10.0 career ypc) and signing Matthews (11.8 career ypc). There's also some potential for one or more of Jake Hollister, Dwayne Allen (11.3 career ypc), Will Tye (9.5 career ypc) or Niklas to step up and provide some 2nd-tier support for the intermediate level.

Even with Cooks gone, the Pats still have Gronk, Hogan, Britt and Dorsett to potentially support the deep game, plus Burkhead and White (and Hill, possibly) to more than adequately support their short game even with Lewis gone.

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It's also worth noting that the contracts for Britt, Hogan (deep game), Patterson and Matthews (intermediate game) all expire at the end of the 2018 season (McCarron and Cody Hollister are both ERFA at the end of 2018).

This strikes me as something of a "tryout menu", from which BB/McD/coaches will select some combination of players that seems to them to provide the greatest number of playbook options, plus the greatest potential resilience/redundancy at all target levels (with a significant emphasis on the intermediate-level game) - and with at least some consideration given to future roster potential (2019 & 2020), and to the return game (which may or may not also involve the DB and/or RB rosters).

It's mainly for this reason that I really do not believe that any player from the current WR and TE groups (aside from Edelman and Gronk) are "locks" at this point. It's also why I don't preclude the Pats adding two or more rookies to this menu (picks and UDFA).

I don't think that the Pats corps of pass-catchers is going through a "re-build", but it seems to me that it may be in for a "renovation". The more skill-set options that the Pats have available over the summer and through Camp to mix-and-match, the more likely it is that they'll end up with a solid and resilient corps at the end of cutdowns.

 

[Off The Grid]

I'm a fan of Jordan Matthews.

Matthews isn't by any means explosive, but he's very smooth, and, far more importantly in this offense, he's very smart, and an outstanding Route Runner.

He's also an enormous Target for Moving The Chains...especially into the End Zone.

If he's 100%, come OTA's, he could make an enormous impact, here.

I really, really, really like this signing.

 

[Gronk]

A bit of a more in depth look at Mathews and how he was used in the past.

It appears as though his drop rate for 2016 was 6 percent, which translated to #27th in the league. The article notes this as a reason for some of his decline for stats that year, although he was seeing more outside targets and only saw a little more than 1/3 of his reps from the slot, due to Pederson’s wishes. This could be a reason as to why he was traded, as he only moved inside during 3 WR sets.

Jordan Matthews advanced stats & metrics indicate fantasy football sleeper

The Eagles also signed Alshon Jeffrey and Torry Smith during last offseason, so along with Agholor they were looking at not using him as much anyways. So they traded him for a CB who’s pretty good and they needed more.

if he can get familiar with the offense and TB I see no reason his skill set can’t be highly useful here.

 

[maineman209]

He drops a lot of footballs

As a percentage of targets - no he doesn't, relative to others.

Patriots sign WR Jordan Matthews to a 1 Year Deal

 

[Soliel]

He must be at least fairly good.

We’re not in full spin but if you hated cooks with over a thousand yards. Well, like gold member said: “ I guess there can be no pleasing you” smoke and a pancake anyone?

 

[maineman209]

Marquise Goodwin - ok deep threat sprinter to Jimmy G’s go to guy & a big pay day

Worth noting that Goodwin's catch rate almost immediately increased to significantly above his career average as soon as Jimmy G became SFO's starting QB.

 

[Soliel]

Worth noting that Goodwin's catch rate almost immediately increased to significantly above his career average as soon as Jimmy G became SFO's starting QB.

Right. This is foundational in my theory. If you can get 800 with a jag qb then it’s possible you could get more here.
I watched jimmy torch one team after the other with a team who couldn’t win any games. The game against Jacksonville. Wow

 

[Off The Grid]

This is good news. If a guy can survive philly cheese steak, get 800 yards in buffalo with god knows who tossing the ball. He should be marked down for 1200 yards and 14 tds.

Dude. He got 282 Yards in Beefalo.

 

[Soliel]

Dude. He got 282 Yards in Beefalo.

Right. 282 there, 806 in philly. I got it wrong

 

[Off The Grid]

My theory is that if you can get 800 yards in buffalo then you might get more here hopefully.

Dude. I swear to God that he didn't get 800 yards in Beefalo.

Wait. You mean 800 feet, don't you? Got it.

 

[Off The Grid]

He's been pretty bad his whole career but I guess we're in full spin mode again at Patsfans dot com because the Patriots threw a dart at a guy who may or may not make the team.

TF's the matter with you??

He racked up 75 Catches a Year before the Eagles gave'm the wrong prognosis on'is knee, as a result'f which he literally limped through 2017...And this nonsense about'm being ButterFingers on thrown balls is 100% Urban Legend ********!!

He catches a few.

He drops a few.

With the Commodores, he was mint, once he settled in.

He should be fine with the GOAT throwing'm.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

I'm a fan of Jordan Matthews.

Matthews isn't by any means explosive, but he's very smooth, and, far more importantly in this offense, he's very smart, and an outstanding Route Runner.

He's also an enormous Target for Moving The Chains...especially into the End Zone.

If he's 100%, come OTA's, he could make an enormous impact, here.

I really, really, really like this signing.

So you like slot WRs

 

[Off The Grid]

You're a good man, Brother So. I'm not really bustin'...I see that you responded while I was printing the 2nd post in a 2 post series...Just having a little fun.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

You're a good man, Brother So. I'm not really bustin'...I see that you responded while I was printing the 2nd post in a 2 post series...Just having a little fun.

Thanks man I hope Jordan Matthews does really well here

I really like his size

 

[Soliel]

You're a good man, Brother So. I'm not really bustin'...I see that you responded while I was printing the 2nd post in a 2 post series...Just having a little fun.

I know bro. I have a lot of fun here. I make a lot of inaccurate claims at times lol

 

[maineman209]

Right. This is foundational in my theory. If you can get 800 with a jag qb then it’s pheasible you could get more here.
I watched jimmy torch one team after the other with a team who couldn’t win any games. The game against Jacksonville. Wow

Matthews' QBs:

2014 - 872 yds, 65% catch rate, 8 TDs, 5.8% drop rate (rookie)
... Foles, 8 games (not really a JAG overall)
... Sanchez, 4 games (mostly a JAG, but actually pretty decent that season)

2015 - 997 yds, 68% catch rate, 8 TDs, 3.9% drop rate
... Bradford, 14 games (definitely JAG-ish)
... Sanchez, 2 games (not as good as in 2014)

2016 - 804 yds, 62% catch rate, 3 TDs, 5.1% drop rate
... Wentz, rookie (plus brand new HC and OC)

 

[Soliel]

Matthews' QBs:

2014 - 872 yds, 65% catch rate, 8 TDs, 5.8% drop rate (rookie)
... Foles, 8 games (not really a JAG overall)
... Sanchez, 4 games (mostly a JAG, but actually pretty decent that season)

2015 - 997 yds, 68% catch rate, 8 TDs, 3.9% drop rate
... Bradford, 14 games (definitely JAG-ish)
... Sanchez, 2 games (not as good as in 2014)

2016 - 804 yds, 62% catch rate, 3 TDs, 5.1% drop rate
... Wentz, rookie (plus brand new HC and OC)

Good breakdown. Now, he’s been having too many different guys throwing to him to get a good read on his skills. He seemed to do ok even with less than brady type qbs

 

[Rob0729]

If he can bounce back from injuries, he is a great pick up. He is a perfect replacement for Amendola. He played pretty well in Philly with much lesser QB play than Brady even if Brady starts to decline this year.

 

[mgteich]

We seem to require 800 yards from our #3 WR. I'm not sure how many times this has EVER happened for the patriots. As for our #4 WR and #5 WR, together they don't have one catch a game.

Given that Edelman and Mitchell are coming back from injuries, this is a fine pickup. If Edelman, Hogan and Mitchell were 100%, this acquisition might not matter much at all.