WR Depth Solved in House

WR Depth Solved in House

Last week, I took a look at a few options that the Patriots had if they wanted to acquire a free agent wide receiver to fill the holes left by the release of Joey Galloway and the injury to rookie Julian Edelman. Well, without diving into the depth of the market, the Patriots seem to have filled the slot nicely with the timely return of rookie Brandon Tate.

When we last saw Brandon Tate, he was busy being placed on the PUP-list to continue recovering from a torn ACL and MCL that he suffered at the University of North Carolina playing opposite Hakeem Nicks. When the Patriots originally selected Tate in the third round of the 2009 draft I was surprised to say the least. Joey Galloway was in the fold, Tate had been labeled as a poor character guy, and the Patriots had Ellis Hobbs returning kicks. Eight weeks later, everything has changed and Tate has the door wide open for him to step into the slot opposite Wes Welker and be a game breaker in the New England offense.

What remains to be seen is his ability to be a consistent threat as a wide receiver. We’ve seen quite a few receivers make an impact this year either as rookies (Hakeem Nicks, Jeremy Maclin) or out of obscurity (Miles Austin, Mike Sims-Walker). Tate may be the next to do so, but he’s still raw and could use some seasoning from the veterans before he can really make any sort of true impact. I’m still hoping to see him return kicks at some point, but that will most likely be a “down the road project” once they are a little more confident in both his ability and the health of his knee. In all reality, I expect him to be half of what Jabar Gaffney was for the Patriots over the past few seasons. But half is far more than we were getting out of Galloway, and once Edelman comes back the two could form quite the pair of explosive rookie receivers.

Tags: Brandon Tate, Ellis Hobbs, Hakeem Nicks, Joey Galloway, Julian Edelman, North Carolina