NFL Power Rankings: Does Julian Edelman's injury change the Patriots' outlook?
Filed under: News, Sports, NFL
If you wanted a sliver of hope that the New England Patriots would look vulnerable heading into the season, that might have happened when receiver Julian Edelman was leaving the third preseason game in a cart.
There were a few key injuries this preseason, as always, and the biggest was probably Edelman’s torn ACL. Edelman has become one of the New England Patriots’ key players. He’s a perfect fit for the Patriots’ offense, which is built around the short-to-intermediate passing game. Nobody has better synergy with Tom Brady. Brady can always trust Edelman to read the coverage correctly and be open.
So Edelman’s season-ending injury is a big loss for the Patriots, right? Well, maybe.
New England is well stocked at receiver. Even after losing their most reliable receiver, the Patriots have Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell. Many teams would love to have that receiving corps. Oh, and Rob Gronkowski is back as the most dominant tight end in the game. The Patriots won big without Gronkowski last season; they can win big without Edelman this season.
RELATED: NFL's best selling jerseys this week
That’s not to say Edelman isn’t a fantastic player, or his loss won’t be missed. There will be some third downs when Brady would normally go to Edelman, and he’ll have to figure out Plan B. You have to trust that Brady and the Patriots’ coaching staff will be able to do that. Edelman’s loss knocks the Patriots down a bit, but still not behind anyone else in the NFL. It probably just means Hogan becomes a bigger part of the offense, and that’s not a bad thing.
Even though the Patriots suffered perhaps the biggest loss of the preseason (Miami Dolphins fans might argue it was Ryan Tannehill … or maybe not), it’s still the Patriots and everyone else chasing them.
Here are the NFL power rankings as we head into Week 1. Click on any team name below to read the full preview we did this summer for that squad (the “last week” ranking is where each team ranked in our power rankings before the first preseason game):