The Patriots continued to round out the middle portion of their roster this week with three moves, all on the offensive side of the ball, starting with offensive linemen Luke Bowanko and TE Troy Niklas, and ending for now with wide receiver Jordan Matthews.
Matthews was a second-round pick in 2014, was traded to the Bills last preseason but ended the year on injured reserve, meaning the Patriots got him a good discount. He works primarily out of the slot, which makes him a good candidate to help replace Danny Amendola. However, Matthews isn’t exactly the quick-open kind of guy that Amendola or Julian Edelman are. He’s a bigger slot receiver but with good hands and a good feel for getting open.
More on him and Niklas as we get closer and closer to the draft!
— I liked Mike Reiss’ assessment that Matthews feels more like a move tight end than a receiver, making him more Tim Wright than the kind of shifty slot. I pulled up all his third-down targets on NFL Gamepass, to see how he came through in some key moments and it was a mixed bag. Few fumbles, couple touchdowns, including one against the Pats in one of the sneaky-worst losses of late in 2015 with the Eagles. I don’t know for sure he’ll even make the team, but he might be the second-best slot option already in a deep group of veteran receivers.
— The Patriots have done a great job stocking the receiver position with castoff talent. Cordarrelle Patterson, Kenny Britt and Matthews are all high-round picks who have kicked around the league a bit. Philip Dorsett is a former first-rounder as well. It’s about building a team not collecting talent, but this is a far cry from 2005-06, 2011-2013 when receiver depth and pedigree was thin and unimpressive. Surrounding Brady with those kinds of players could potentially produce a surprising explosion. It only takes one first-rounder to live up their hype and replacing Cooks and Amendola won’t be so tough.
— I love Niklas signing because he’s another first-round injury castoff who can get a fresh start in an all-football environment. I had Niklas on my 2014 Big Board at 13th so I’ve long been a fan of him and his fit on the Pats. If he can stay healthy and get on the same page as Brady he could be a very nice Gronk insurance during the season. Who knows, maybe he lives up to his draft status and gives the Pats a deadly return to more 12 personnel.
— Niklas could certainly carve out a role behind Gronk and Dwayne Allen even if he doesn’t totally click. It’s also possible Niklas beats Allen out and makes him expendable in August. I’m fine with keeping Allen around as long as possible, the Pats can cut him at any point and he’s a solid pro who will be a tone-setter even if he was a disappointment in the receiving department last season.
Any way you cut it, the Patriots have done a really good job surrounding Brady with talented weaponry here at the tail end of his career. There was so much complaining over the course of his career with wasting Brady’s time with subpar receivers and complimentary pieces, but you can’t really complain now. In the last year they’ve added four former-first -round picks and one second-rounder.
And those are the guys who don’t even have to “start”. (They’re behind Gronk, an undrafted former lacrosse player and a 7th-round former quarterback).
There’s a ton of talent, with more to come in the draft, and now it’s just a question of who wins the jobs, if they can stay healthy, and then if they can take the Patriots offense to new heights.
Any guesses on which of these guys make the roster and wild-ass guess on what the depth chart might look like? I admit I don’t have a clue. Edelman and Hogan obviously have chemistry with Brady and have been productive in the past but who knows what will happen in camp. Brady didn’t seem to ever see Dorsett even when he was open but maybe things will be different this year.