With Edelman and Harry out, who will Cam throw to?
Edelman, Harry out this week
Wanted: Pass catchers.
The Patriots are officially scraping the bottom of their roster barrel for wide receiver help. Come Sunday, they’ll likely be pulling from their practice squad.
That’s how dire the situation is in Foxboro.
Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry have been ruled out against the Bills. With or without them, the Pats’ passing game has been dogged by a lack of outside separation and inaccurate throws from the pocket. Cam Newton has expressed several times he will play better, and his nine years of NFL service as an above average quarterback indicate he should revert back to career mean performance sometime this season.
But now, all six of the Patriots’ healthy wide receivers — three on the active roster and three on the practice squad — are players who entered the league as undrafted free agents. Five did so within the past 18 months. Speedster Damiere Byrd, a career journeyman, is the lone veteran and default No. 1 option.
Newton’s chances of rebounding, and therefore the Patriots’, lies with them.
“Football is a team sport. People go down,” Byrd said Friday. “This is just an opportunity for us to step up, especially myself. Being able to prepare this week, going out and helping our team win.”
To his credit, Byrd has assimilated to the Pats’ offense better than most of his veteran predecessors did in their first seasons. Byrd says he’s comfortable in the system and derives confidence from his experience
playing with Newton in Carolina. But aside from an outlier performance in Week 2, when the Patriots sliced a sloppy Seattle secondary, Byrd has failed to total 40 receiving yards in a game Newton’s played.
If the Pats are to upset the Bills, they’ll either need another outlier performance — unlikely — or other receivers to produce at levels not seen before. Enter Jakobi Meyers.
On most teams, Meyers is ideally suited as a No. 3 or 4 option. To wit, the Pats have benched him in favor of a clearly hobbled Edelman and invisible Harry all season. When Harry was sidelined with a concussion last Sunday against San Francisco, Meyers soaked up all his snaps and produced what would’ve been the second-best statistical outing of Harry’s career.
Meyers told reporters this week he’s maintained his confidence because he’s been practicing patience ever since he stepped on a football field.
“Every level of my career has been the same story. I never start out on top,” Meyers said this week. “I wasn’t a five-star , I didn’t go to high school as a football player, it was just a lot of adversity I had to work through, and it taught me a lot of things on the way up. Like I said, I was always pretty confident, I knew what I could do.
“I knew I just had to be patient and wait on my opportunity, because if I sat there and got down about it or cried
about it I wouldn’t be ready when that chance came.”
The third and final wide receiver available to Newton on the active roster is Gunner Olszewski. The long-shot Division II product has served primarily as a returner this season. His lone catch in three games was a pass intended for Edelman, who deflected the ball backwards during the Pats’ loss at Kansas City.
Given that lack of production and the Bills’ formidable secondary, Olszewski may not put a dent in Buffalo’s defense as a receiver. Though the Pats could deploy him on jet sweeps, reverses or other motion-triggered run plays. To date, those plays have typically called Isaiah Zuber’s number.
Zuber, who’s already been summoned from the practice squad three times this year, has taken a total of 20 offensive snaps. His last touch was a 16yard catch against the Broncos. The Pats have used his long speed to apply pressure on the edges, though he’s yet to see extensive snaps in a traditional receiving role.
In practice, Byrd likes what’s seen from the rising Zuber.
“Isaiah is a young player that has been growing in recent weeks, really picking up the offense, and being able to expand his role. He’s a fast guy, and I think you guys can see how he runs out there,” Byrd said. “Runs great routes, and I’m excited to see how he continues to progress.”
Perhaps the most improbable call-up of the Pats’ three options, Mason Kinsey re-signed to the team’s practice squad two weeks ago, after receiving
his release on Oct. 1. He was originally added to the practice squad on Sept. 8.
Mason entered the league out of Division III Berry College. He signed with the Titans in May and lasted all the way through cutdown day. The 5foot-10, 198-pounder is regarded for his ability to work underneath routes and block tenaciously.
Pats cornerback Jonathan Jones grouped Kinsey with fellow undrafted rookie Kristian Wilkerson in an assessment he gave Friday.
“Kristian competes. Every day, every week he’s out there he’s going to compete. He does a good job of going and getting balls. And Mason the same,” Jones said. “He’s out there working hard and improving every day. Those guys are doing whatever coaches ask them to do and they go after it. They work hard.
“You definitely see improvement since they’ve been here and continue to get better.”
Physically, Wilkerson stands apart from Kinsey, Olszewski and other Patriots wideouts who have traditionally fit the slot receiver mold.
At 6-foot-1 and a solid 214 pounds, he packs intriguing potential on paper, having clocked a 4.46 in the 40-yard dash and a 6.68 in the 3-cone, an elite time for any prospect regardless of position.
Of course, it says something Wilkerson was cut by the Titans with Kinsey in early September and hasn’t seen the field yet.
But if there was ever a time for him to emerge, Sunday should be it.