Pats bolster passing attack, adding Falcons’ Sanu
The New England Patriots may be undefeated after their 33-0 cakewalk over the New York Jets Monday night, but they’re not done trying to improve their offence. On Tuesday morning, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported New England had acquired wide receiver Mohamed Sanu from the reeling Atlanta Falcons for a second-round draft pick.
Schefter said Sanu has long been a target of the Patriots, who tried to trade for him before this year’s draft. With the Falcons (1-6) staring at a lost season, the time was right for Atlanta to make a deal.
Sanu, 30, has 33 catches for 313 yards and a touchdown this season, his eighth in the NFL, and his 9.5 yards per reception are the lowest of his career as he’s fallen behind Julio Jones, Austin Hooper and Calvin Ridley in Atlanta’s passing attack pecking order. He had a career-high 838 receiving yards last season. Sanu played at Rutgers with Patriots defensive backs Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty and Duron Harmon and safeties coach Stephen Belichick, son of New England coach Bill Belichick.
According to Pro Football Focus, Sanu has the NFL’s fourthmost yards from the slot position since 2016.
The lopsided score Monday night hid the fact the Patriots offence isn’t exactly one that can stretch the field. Quarterback Tom Brady averaged only 4.98 adjusted yards per pass attempt against the Jets, his second-lowest mark of the season, and is averaging just 7.4 adjusted yards per pass attempt over seven games, his lowest such figure since 2006. He’s thrown only four touchdown passes over the past four games, three of them in one game.
The Patriots wide receiving corps has been beset with injuries with Julian Edelman (ribs), Josh Gordon (knee) and Phillip Dorsett (hamstring) all on the injury report in recent weeks. New England’s experiment with former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown ended after one game amid the NFL’s investigation into accusations of rape and sexual assault against him by one woman and allegations he sent threatening text messages to another woman.