In a recent Bleacher Report ranking of all the NFL pass catching corps, the New England Patriots came in at No. 1, but should they be?
Do the New England Patriots have the best pass catchers in the NFL? The popular answer to that question is likely no.
New England has historically gotten it done on offense without many big-name weapons. Instead, they find receivers who fit their system and can do their job.
Maybe that does make them the best though. At least that’s what Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report says as he ranked the Patriots as the No. 1 group of pass catchers in the NFL.
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The interesting part was that Knox mentioned the team losing two key players — Brandin Cooks and Danny Amendola — but believes others will step right up and fill those roles.
"“Brandin Cooks is gone, but New England will have Brady’s favorite target, Julian Edelman, back on the field in 2018 after he tore his ACL during the preseason. Edelman amassed more yards in 2016 (1,106) than Cooks did last season. Danny Amendola is also gone, but the Patriots are getting Malcolm Mitchell back from injury and added Kenny Britt late last season.” — Knox, Bleacher Report"
Of course there were many critics of this opinion shared by Knox, including some unflattering words shared on Twitter. But is he really wrong?
Each and every year New England is near the top of the NFL in every offensive category, which is a testament to the players. In 2017, they lost Julian Edelman and still finished second in the league with 276.1 yards per game.
Getting Edelman back cancels out the loss of Cooks and other players like Malcolm Mitchell and Chris Hogan have been able to step up whenever they have been called upon.
Besides the receivers, the writer also included tight ends and is there a better pass catching tight end in the league than Rob Gronkowski? Last season he pulled down 1,084 yards receiving and had eight touchdowns. When healthy, those numbers are actually on the lower end of Gronk’s potential.
So while at first it sounds crazy, maybe Knox isn’t wrong. Sure, other teams like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Atlanta Falcons may have better wide outs, but neither has a threat like Gronk.
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When all that’s factored in, you can understand how they ended up where they did. Still, many fans would want to see them ranked lower, but that could be the fact that so many want to see the Pats knocked down a peg.