FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – In 2006, Josh McDaniels officially ascended to the New England Patriots offensive coordinator position, and Bill Belichick traded his only reliable wide receiver, Deion Branch, to Seattle for a first-round pick.
The 2006 Patriots nonetheless went 12-4 and very nearly stole a trip to Super Bowl XLI, falling a few plays short in the AFC Championship game at Indianapolis. (New England fans are still wondering what might have been if Reche Caldwell had corralled a red-zone reception in the fourth quarter.) Still, the first-rounder from Seattle helped the Patriots acquire both Randy Moss and Jerod Mayo, and the Patriots learned they could make due with whatever receivers you give Tom Brady.
When the Patriots open their 2018 campaign at home today against the Texans, some hold concerns they may again find themselves in a situation akin to 2006, where the offense will have to overcome a lack of big-name wideouts. Certainly, Julian Edelman is suspended for four games, Brandin Cooks was dealt to the Rams for a No. 1 pick and Danny Amendola departed via free agency to Miami, but the comparison to 2006 is flawed from the start if only because these Patriots have an elite receiver in tight end Rob Gronkowksi. However, it’s also worth noting that the talent and experience of this wideout group, even in Edelman’s absence, dwarfs the position group Belichick assembled 12 years ago.
Caldwell, the team’s leading receiver with 760 yards in 2006, his only year in New England, did not surpass 352 yards in any of his other six seasons. Next on the depth chart was Doug Gabriel, whom the Patriots cut after 12 games and 344 receiving yards. Other than Troy Brown, who was 35 and in his final season, Brady had never played with any of these guys. Rookie Chad Jackson never materialized into the player they hoped he’d be, and Jabar Gaffney, who caught 11 of his 20 targets, was the only receiver who played regularly for the Pats in 2007. It was dire, but they somehow finished seventh in the NFL in scoring even without a 1,000-yard running back.
Though short-handed in Edelman’s absence, this unit still has more experience, more talent and more known quantities than the ’06 squad. Hogan was third on the team with 680 yards in 2016. Phillip Dorsett only had 18 targets in 2017, but had a career high of 528 yards with the Colts in 2015. Each of them have been playing with Brady for at least a year.
“You know, Phillip and Chris have obviously played a lot,” Brady said. “I’ve played a lot with them last year. It’s a tough system to play in for a receiver. I definitely don’t think it’s easy, and I know that because we’ve had a lot (of players) come from a lot of different places and (there’s a) lot of memorization, lot of being on the same page with the quarterback and changing routes at the line of scrimmage, changing routes during the middle of play and you got to be on the same page.”
Certainly, the wild card heading into this season is Cordarrelle Patterson. A kickoff-return star who never developed into the No. 1 wideout the Vikings anticipated when they drafted him, Patterson is a superior athletic talent whose potential for this team remains unknown.
“Cordarrelle’s new and he’s done some good things,” Brady said. “Obviously, it’s the reason why he’s here. He’s a really good player and he’s been productive in the league. To be on this team, you’ve got to be a good football player and, you know, the guys that are out there, I have certainly a lot of confidence in.”
Brady also has weapons coming out of the backfield. James White (56) and Rex Burkhead (30) combined for 86 catches last season, despite missing eight games between them.
Clearly, changes in personnel are nothing new to Brady. With no Gronk available for the second half of 2016, he finished second in the MVP voting and threw for 466 yards in Super Bowl LI. A year later, he lost Edelman for the season and won the MVP. Despite the early exit of Cooks in Super Bowl LII, he wound up throwing for 505 yards in that game to a group quite similar to the one he has now (swap in Patterson in place of a 32-year-old Danny Amendola).
“We try to morph the offense to what we all do a good job at, and those things change over the course of the season with different guys that come in and out,” Brady said. “Hopefully – again, we’re all going to be learning on the fly and you’ve got to build as the season goes. We’re in a certain place now, but this is not where we want to be as we get through the season. Every week we want to build on things and there’s no way to replicate what we’re about to go up against and that’s why you got to go through it.”
(Dave Brown is a freelance correspondent who covers the Patriots for the Monitor. You can follow him on Twitter @ThatDaveBrown.)