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New England Patriots: Brandon Gibson a quality flier

By Kevin Parvizi

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The New England Patriots don’t make many splashes when they add to their wide receiver corps, and we’ve certainly seen that in the previous two offseason when they picked up Danny Amendola and Brandon LaFell. This year, they decided to sign former Miami Dolphins wideout Brandon Gibson on a one-year flier, per the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, and Gibson is a guy they targeted back in the 2013 offseason before he decided to choose the Dolphins over his other AFC East suitors.

A Josh McDaniels link, Gibson caught 51 passes and five touchdowns in his final season with the St. Louis Rams before joining the Dolphins, and his career in Miami got off to hot a start. He looked like a revelation, as he put up 29 receptions for 322 yards in his first six games, averaging nearly five catches per game as the team’s No.3 receiver behind Mike Wallace and Brian Hartline, making him look like a solid talent and shrewd signing.

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Unfortunately, his 2013 season was cut short to just seven games due to a season-ending knee injury against the New England Patriots. It’s hard to tell how much of his numbers last season were due to his role or the lingering effects of a severe injury, but, either way, he failed to make any sort of an impact in 2014, failing to catch more than five passes or 50 yards in a single game as a mere bit player in the Dolphins offense.

The Patriots seem to be fine in the pass-catching department, as they now have enough cap to keep Amendola around, as he would have likely been a cap casualty despite the dead money involved if the Patriots ended up keeping Darrelle Revis. With LaFell, Rob Gronkowski, Tim Wright, and Julian Edelman locked in as key players and 2013 second-round pick Aaron Dobson lurking as an outside-shot third-year breakout candidate, Gibson will have to work to crack the roster. But with preseason stud and vertical threat Brian Tyms out the door, that’s one less body for the Pats newest WR to compete with.

Whenever the Patriots sign someone, everyone takes note, because you never know what this team could get out of him. They managed to lead LaFell to a breakout year and turn him into a valuable contributor, and there’s an outside chance Gibson could be that guy for the Pats in 2015. Remember, they showed interest in him a couple of offseasons ago, so there’s plenty of reason to keep a close eye on him this offseason.

Of course, it’s important to realize that Brandon Gibson is essentially a shot in the dark and a complete flier, since he will make just $825,000 on his one-year deal. Since he played poorly last season after a major injury and was never an impact player before then, Gibson has a lot to prove, but he’s in the best possible situation.

Not many players who will be 28 to start the season, who have never put up 700 receiving yards, and who could be significantly worse after a major injury have high upside, but Gibson is still an intriguing player. He’s shown some flashes during his career, and he’s the kind of quality, worthwhile flier that is common under Bill Belichick’s reign. Belichick is one of the best in the league at finding value, and both current Patriots LeGarrette Blount and LaFell are two skill position players who can attest to this assertion.

The New England Patriots will hope that Gibson can show off some inside-outside versatility that helped make the Dolphins- and Pats- tout him in 2013, but it will be even more important to see how much explosiveness and athleticism he has. Per Advanced Football Analytics, the Washington State product had a 56.9% catch rate and averaged less than six yards per target for the Dolphins last season, whereas he caught nearly 70% of everything thrown at him and put up 7.6 yards per target.

Given his 2013 injury, it’s hard to see Gibson making much of an impact on the outside, but the larger worry is that he lost the quickness and agility to remain productive in the slot. He looked like a very productive wideout in his brief success with the Dolphins in 2013 before his season-ending injury, but it’s completely worth it for the Patriots to take a one-year flier that literally has absolutely no risk attached to it, in the hopes that he can regain his quickness and overall productivity.

Next: Which of these guys would work for the Patriots?

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