Examining what’s out there at returner – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

One of the bigger surprises from the draft to me was that the Pats didn’t take a returner, nor did they pick one up in free agency. The value of kickoffs was lessened by last year’s rule changes, but still, you never want to be at the bottom of the league in anything (including defense, heyoo!). 

Using Woodhead and Edelman last year illustrated that the Pats felt going with agile guys was the better choice with the kickoff returns being on a shorter field, and it was surprising that it didn’t work to better effect. I really thought Edelman would be better than he was.

So it’s hard to say what the approach will be this year and should be interesting to see what they do, but it has to be an area they want to see improved.

Overall, while keeping in mind that kickoff returns are a team effort, the Patriots ranked 29th in the NFL in kick return average, at 21.4 yards. Only the Chiefs (21.3), Eagles (20.9), and Colts (18.6) were worse.