Braxton Berrios is headed for free agency, and he looks like a guy who’s making himself some money. He’s showing that he can be an asset on a roster.
I have been following Berrios since the Patriots drafted him in the sixth round in 2018. At that time, I wondered if he might be the eventual replacement for Julian Edelman. That didn’t happen; they released him after he spent his rookie season on IR.
The Jets picked him up in September of 2019, and he’s completing his third season with them. He’s been very good on punt returns, averaging 11.5 yards per. He’s been mostly a backup as a wide receiver.
When the Jets have put him on the field, however, Berrios has held up fine. Most recently he caught 8 passes for 65 yards and a touchdown against the Bucs, with another touchdown on an end-around. But Berrios also has played well while filling in for other games.
Over the past two years, there have been nine games where the Jets choose to elevate Berrios in a more substantial, starter-type role – nine games where he’s been on the field for over half of their plays. He’s been pretty busy/productive in all but two of those games.
In those nine games, he’s caught 49 passes for 444 yards and 3 TDs, with 2 other touchdowns scored in other ways (the run and a kickoff return against Jacksonville). That’s an average of 5.4 catches for 49 yards per game – production that can be tapped into in PPR formats.
With his value as a returner and the potential he might develop into a regular slot receiver, I would think he’ll have a market in the spring. I expect that he’ll be the 3rd- or 4th-highest paid receiver on some roster heading into the 2022 season.
For Week 18, I expect he’ll again be the Jets’ most productive pass catcher. The matchup this week, however, isn’t nearly as good as what he saw on Sunday. They’ll playing at Buffalo, which ranks No. 1 in pass defense. If we were to argue that Berrios is pretty similar to Russell Gage, Gage caught 3 passes for 50 yards against this defense on Sunday.
| BERRIOS WHEN PLAYING | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | PPR |
| 2020 | S.F. | L 13-31 | 8 | 6 | 59 | 1 | 17.9 |
| 2020 | at Ind. | L 7-36 | 4 | 4 | 64 | 1 | 16.4 |
| 2020 | Buff. | L 10-18 | 7 | 4 | 35 | 0 | 7.5 |
| 2020 | at K.C. | L 9-35 | 11 | 8 | 34 | 0 | 11.4 |
| 2021 | at Car. | L 14-19 | 7 | 5 | 51 | 0 | 10.1 |
| 2021 | N.E. | L 6-25 | 11 | 7 | 73 | 0 | 14.3 |
| 2021 | at Den. | L 0-26 | 3 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 4.6 |
| 2021 | Jac. | W 26-21 | 6 | 5 | 37 | 1 | 14.7 |
| 2021 | T.B. | L 24-28 | 12 | 8 | 65 | 2 | 26.6 |
—Ian Allan