New England Patriots: 3 Players that must shine vs. Browns in Week 8

2. Mohamed Sanu

Another player that the New England Patriots will look towards to step up in the Week 8 matchup against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday evening in Foxborough is newcomer Mohamed Sanu. Earlier in the week, New England traded for the 30-year old wide receiver in a transaction that sent a second-round draft pick back to the Atlanta Falcons in order to bring Sanu to the Patriots.

The addition of Sanu is an important one for New England now and moving forward this season, especially considering the number of storylines it has had surrounding a few different wide receivers so far this year.

Sanu will likely be able to come in and make an immediate impact for the Patriots right out of the gate, especially with the fact that New England has been a bit banged up among the wide receiving corps over the course of the past few weeks of the regular season.

With Josh Gordon now out of the picture for the Patriots, Sanu will join Julian Edelman and Phillip Dorsett as the primary receiving targets for New England moving forward for the rest of the year.

Sanu has handled being in a pass-heavy offense well throughout his career to this point, after spending time with Andy Dalton in Cincinnati to start his career before joining Matt Ryan and the dominant Atlanta offense before being traded to New England here in 2019.

He will have the ability to step up for the Patriots for the remainder of the season this year and move back into the spotlight within an offensive scheme, much like he has throughout his career to this point.

In Week 8 against the Browns, Sanu won’t likely have a huge role within New England’s offense, but he could very well get an expanded role moving forward for the rest of the regular season as the year progresses.