By Patrick Whalen

Everyone and their mother last week could tell the lack of depth and elite talent at the wide receiver position for the Patriots was one of the main reasons for their struggles against the Jaguars. Right now Brady’s top 3 receivers are Chris Hogan, Phillip Dorsett, and Cordarrelle Patterson, a major step down in talent compared to last years trio of Brandin Cooks, Danny Amendola, and of course Chris Hogan. Out of those 3, only Dorsett has over 100 yards receiving and over 10 catches for the season. These guys couldn’t find consistent separation from the Jags secondary which led to the Patriots offense stuttering for most of the game.

With Edelman still having 2 games remaining in his 4 game suspension the Pats needed to make a move to improve the wide receiver play and overall offensive performance. Insert Josh Gordon. Going and trading for Josh Gordon was an absolutely genius move by Bill Belichick, especially for the price. The Pats only had to give Cleveland a 5th round pick for Gordon and if Gordon is not active for at least 10 games Cleveland has to give the Pats a 7th round pick back. It’s a low-risk high reward deal that Belichick loves to make. To make room for Gordon on the roster the Pats cut last weeks signing Corey Coleman.

At this point, everyone knows about Josh Gordon’s struggle with addiction but, also his elite level talent. In 2013 at just 22 years old and only playing 14 games, Gordon led the league with 1,646 receiving yards with Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden as his quarterbacks (via Pro Football Reference). But between 2014 and 2017 was when we saw his issues with drug abuse caused him to miss games as he only played in a total of 10 games over that 4-year span.

What Gordon can bring to this team is a guy who can stretch the field with his speed and can be that 50-50 ball type receiver for Tom Brady. The Patriots only downfield threat so far this year has been Gronk and teams have mostly been doubling him down the field to force Brady to look elsewhere. The 6′ 3″ Gordon can provide another deep ball threat on the outside that can be a big play threat while also giving Gronk more single cover looks that he can win one on one. Once Edelman returns in week 5 if Gordon is learning the offense and performing well on the field this offense could become scary for other teams to defend between Gordon, Edelman, Dorsett, Hogan, Gronk, James White, Rex Burkhead, and rookie Sony Michel.

Some Patriots, including safety Duron Harmon, still remember the performance Gordon had against the Pats defense back in 2013. In that game, Gordon went for 7 receptions on 10 targets for 151 yards and 1 TD (via Pro Football Reference). In that game, the Browns were able to bring the Pats down to the wire at the Pats won 27-26. Also, in the two weeks before the Browns faced the Pats Gordon went for 24 receptions 498 yards and 3 TD’s against the Steelers and the Jags (via Pro Football Reference).

The Patriots are hoping that if they can get something even remotely close to that performance from 2013 that they will be finding a gem that most of the NFL was ready to give up on. Most people are saying that in New England he could be a Randy Moss-like player if he can stay healthy and away from his off the field issues. I don’t want to proclaim that he’s gonna be the next receiver to break records with Brady but, I do think he can develop into the Patriots best outside receiver since Randy Moss. My season predictions for Gordon are 14 games played 11 games started 60+ reception 1100+ yards and 8 TDs.

Also for those that forgot what an absolute monster this man is on the football field peep this highlight video to witness what a physical beast the Patriots just acquired.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QAiLZKL5hI