About a week ago Ian ran an item about Braxton Berrios. The second-year receiver in New England has a game that could translate into him being the down-the-road replacement for Julian Edelman. Just maybe he'll be involved even sooner than that.
Edelman recently suffered a thumb injury, and is expected to be sidelined "a few weeks." It's a pretty vague timetable and pretty vague report on the severity -- we don't know if it's sprained or worse, and no one should expect the Patriots to provide a ton of details.
With Edelman sidelined, and Josh Gordon's availability uncertain, New England's other wide receivers will get a lot more first-team reps. Phillip Dorsett, Maurice Harris, Dontrelle Inman, Berrios and N'Keal Harry are the names (Demaryius Thomas, coming back from an Achilles injury, is also on the PUP list to open camp).
Dorsett has more commonly been an outside receiver, but he actually filled in for Edelman early last season, catching 16 passes and 2 TDs in those four games. So he needs to be considered as a possible replacement. Inman, Harris and Berrios will also be in the mix for Edelman's slot work. Berrios, though hurt last year, has more experience in the offense; Inman and Harris more NFL production.
If you're going by the experience edge, and if Dorsett lines up as an outside receiver (New England doesn’t have a lot of other guys to put there, with Gordon suspended and Chris Hogan gone), Inman needs to be looked at. He's played for three different teams the last two seasons, but had some production for the Colts last year. Including the playoffs, he appeared in 11 games. In two (his debut, and one after missing a game due to injury) he didn't catch a pass. Of the other nine, he caught at least 4 passes in seven of them -- each of the last four contests.
| INMAN GAME LOG, 2018 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | No | Yds | TD |
| at Oak. | 6 | 52 | 0 |
| Jac. | 4 | 41 | 0 |
| Tenn | 4 | 34 | 1 |
| Mia. | 3 | 40 | 0 |
| at Jac. | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| NYG | 4 | 46 | 1 |
| at Tenn. | 5 | 77 | 1 |
| at Hou. | 4 | 53 | 1 |
| at K.C. | 4 | 55 | 0 |
Inman is 30 and has bounced around some the last few years, but he's definitely in the mix to replace Edelman. Unfortunately for those drafting soon, so is Dorsett, so is Berrios, and so is Harris -- who had a 10-catch game for Washington last season when called upon to replace an injured Jamison Crowder. Any one of those guys could easily be lining up in the slot for New England when the exhibition games roll around.
Personally, I picked up Berrios in dynasty. New England drafted him in the sixth round a year ago, and stashed him on IR. Dorsett and Inman are also on rosters, and just maybe Harris should be (though it's odd that Washington didn't see fit to tender him in restricted free agency).
Those in deeper leagues and best-ball drafts could stand to throw a late pick at one of these guys, just in case. With Edelman, makes sense to bump him a few spots down the rankings (and Dorsett up, whether he’s in the slot or not) until we have more details on the injury. Sounds like just a sprain and some missed preseason time, but he's 33 and it's the Patriots, so nothing should be taken for granted.
--Andy Richardson