No surprise that Danny Amendola isn't playing. But Rob Gronkowski won't play either. Neither guy traveled to Atlanta. And it appears there's a growing disagreement between the team and Gronkowski about when he should return.
It's all in an article by Jeff Howe of the Boston Globe.
In the article, Howe explains that Gronkowski is being advised by family, friends and his agent that he shouldn't return until he's 100 percent positive that he's fully healthy. He made the mistake last year of coming back too quickly from a broken forearm, and it resulted in him re-breaking it early in the playoff game against Houston.
The article suggests the team feels Gronkowski is fine, healthy and should be playing, but that the player wants a little more time.
We'll see. My guess is if the team thinks he's healthy, he'll probably be ready before too much longer -- as in, probably Week 5.
This changes the rankings some, so I've gone in and tinkered with the numbers.
I lowered the team's projection by about 15 passing yards. I had the Patriots finishing with close to 2 TD passes. Now I've lowered them to 1.75. So Tom Brady drops from being the No. 4 quarterback down to being interchangeable with Andrew Luck (so now the No. 9-10 QB). And in a TD-only format, he falls from No. 3 down to No. 5-6.
With Gronkowski and Amendola out of the equation, that clears up the receiver situation. The three main pass catchers will be Julian Edelman, Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins. The overall production falls, but those are the clear guys, so they climb on our board. A lot.
We've got each of those guys at about 70 receiving yards, and each has about a 25 percent chance of being the guy anytime Brady throws a touchdown pass.
So each of those three New England wide receivers fits just inside the top 15 overall at that position (I've got them at 12-13-14). Previously, I had Dobson 24th, Thompkins 30th and Edelman 43rd.
They all go even higher in a PPR format (just a little higher for the two wide guys, and Edelman all the way up at 8th). Previously I had Dobson 23rd, Thompkins 32nd and Edelman 36th.
For TD-only, I've got them 13-14-17 (Thompkins, Edelman, Dobson). Previously they were 15th, 42nd and 28th). The Edelman grade there includes the approximate 3-4 percent likelihood that he'll score on a punt return.
The Gronk injury might help Zach Sudfeld make an impact, but I'm leery. Sudfeld hasn't done much of anything yet. I still have him outside the top 30 among tight ends.
-- Ian Allan