The mantra for the New England Patriots over the course of their entire 17-year Dynasty has been ‘Next Man Up.’
Well, to put it as simple as possible, that motto will certainly be battle tested in the Patriots’ 2018-2019 season. Star wide receiver Julian Edelman is suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the league’s PED policy. On top of that, recently signed wideout Eric Decker announced his retirement Sunday afternoon—marking him the second wide receiver in the last three years to retire mid-training camp for the Patriots.
Edelman’s suspension and Decker’s retirement officially leaves the New England Patriots with a wide receiver corps of Chris Hogan, Philip Dorsett, and Cordarelle Patterson for the first three weeks of the regular season.
However, in lieu of saying that the Patriots need to add to their receiver depth, Patriots fans are reverting to essentially saying ‘They have won more with less, so let’s not worry until Edelman comes back.’ The problem with that logic is now if anybody gets hurt, the Patriots are going to be forced to throw the ball more to Rob Gronkowski, James White, and Hogan—thus making them incredibly predictable.
The Patriots need to bite the bullet and go out and acquire somebody to fill a void that has now been left by Edelman, Danny Amendola, Brandin Cooks, and even Decker. The easiest solution—former Cowboys All-Pro receiver Dez Bryant. Bryant, 29, has been a free agent since the Cowboys released him back on April 13, which is pretty shocking to some. He met with the Cleveland Browns last week but left without a contract—that was reported to be worth less than $5 million.
Bryant was recently asked who his favorite player was in the league and his answer was pretty easy—Tom Brady. Obviously him loving Brady doesn’t make him a shoe-in to become the newest member of the New England Patriots. However, the fact that he seems incredibly intrigued by Brady should give the Patriots some optimism that he would at least be cooperative and have a desire to learn the system just to get the opportunity to play alongside his favorite player.
Bryant had 69 receptions in 2017-18, which was good for 838 yards and six touchdowns in a full 16 games with Dallas. The eight-year veteran will be turning 30-years-old in November, which means he’s running out of opportunities to really cash in on the open market.
We’ve already seen Bill Belichick bring in players who have been so-called castoffs from other teams, and then get the most out of them in their time here. Guys like Brandon Browner, Darrelle Revis, Chris Long, and even LeGarrette Blount were able to resurrect their careers with their time spent in New England.
The Patriots should bring Bryant in for a workout, and ideally have him leave with a one-year deal in place. New England desperately needs to bring in some talent at the wide receiver position and there’s no better option on the market right now than Bryant.
