Replacing Julian Edelman’s production truly has been a full-team effort for the New England Patriots this season.
Want proof? Here’s a stat for you: Through six games, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has targeted tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receivers Brandin Cooks and Chris Hogan exactly 41 times apiece. The trio is tied for second on the team in targets behind running back James White, who has 42.
Wideout Danny Amendola isn’t far behind with 32 targets, and all five of those players have between 24 and 33 receptions this season.
Though the Patriots’ receiving corps was both talented and deep last season, it wasn’t anywhere near this balanced.
Brady leaned heavily on Edelman throughout the 2016 campaign, especially after Gronkowski was lost for the season in early December. Edelman was targeted 158 times during the regular season, third-most in the NFL and the most by any Patriots player since Wes Welker had 174 targets in 2012.
Brady’s second-favorite receiver last season was White, who had 86 targets. That’s a 72-target difference, the largest gap between the most- and second-most-targeted Patriots players in any season since at least 1992, when the NFL began tracking target stats.
New England’s four other receivers — Hogan, Amendola, Malcolm Mitchell and Michael Floyd — combined for 140 total targets in 2016, with Hogan leading that group with 57.
This year, with Edelman sidelined for the season after tearing his ACL in August? Different story.
Cooks is the Patriots’ No. 1 wideout on paper, but his catch and target totals haven’t differed much from Hogan’s and Amendola’s. He does have a considerable lead in receiving yards (472) and yards per catch (19.7), ranking in the top five in the league in both categories.
Hogan has taken another step forward following his productive debut season in Foxboro, and Amendola, who is enjoying a career renaissance at age 31, currently is the Patriots’ most reliable receiver, as long as he can stay healthy.
The necessary shift in philosophy is paying off for both the Patriots and the players. New England boasts the NFL’s top passing attack by a wide margin — 412.0 yards per game, miles ahead of the second-place Kansas City Chiefs, who have averaged 387.0 — and Cooks, Hogan, Amendola and White all are on pace for career highs in receiving yards.
Gronkowski, who ranks second on the team in receiving yards and targets and tied for second in catches despite missing one-and-a-half games with injuries, is on pace for his fourth career 1,000-yard season.
Thumbnail photo via Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports Images
