The New England Patriots got a new wide receiver with the arrival of Mohamed Sanu, who was acquired via trade with the Atlanta Falcons. Sanu’s arrival would mean more than just giving Brady another target on offense, but he could also contribute on trick plays as he was also used as quarterback during his stints with Rutgers in college and with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Falcons in the NFL. The Patriots usually use veteran wide receiver Julian Edelman, who was a quarterback during his college stint at Kent, while doing trick plays.
With Sanu’s arrival, defensive back Devin McCourty believes that Edelman is relegated to second-best throwing wideout on the Patriots.
In an interview with TMZ Sports, McCourty said the honor of being the best-throwing wideout on the Patriots now belongs to Sanu, his former teammate at Rutgers. "I always tell Jules playing quarterback at Kent State is not much of an accomplishment," said McCourty, adding that Sanu actually played quarterback during his stint at Rutgers.
Offense should capitalize on Sanu’s throwing arm
In his college career, Sanu played quarterback in the Wildcat, completing 8 of 18 passes for 207 yards and four touchdowns with no interception. With the Bengal and Falcons, Sanu completed 7 of 8 throws for 233 yards and four touchdowns for a rating of 158.3. Edelman, for his part, completed 386 of 708 passes for 4,997 yards and 30 touchdowns with 31 interceptions for Kent State.
With the Patriots, Edelman completed all of his 3 passes for 75 yards and no touchdown for a rating of 118.8. According to McCourty, Patriots' offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniel should capitalize on Sanu’s amazing throwing arm, to draw up some trick plays. “I think Mo's QBR is really high, so, we can definitely use that in the offense,” said McCourty.
Recently, Sanu showed his arm strength by throwing a football 71.5 yards, farther than any 28 starting quarterbacks in the NFL, according to Falcons writer Will McFadden. McFadden reported that Sanu’s throw was farther than his former quarterback Matt Ryan, who threw 62 yards through the air, and other starters such as Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton and even his current quarterback, Tom Brady.
Harry should make impact with Gordon gone
The Patriots virtually ended wide receiver Josh Gordon’s stint with the team when they placed him on injured reserve on Wednesday. Field Yates of ESPN said the Patriots made the move after Gordon was listed as a non-participant on Wednesday's injury report due to knee and ankle issues. The dilemma is that the Patriots can only bring back two players from IR.
They used one designation on rookie wideout N’Keal Harry and plan to use the other on left tackle Isaiah Wynn. Meaning, Gordon won’t be able to return to the Patriots this season but can suit up with another team. The Patriots plan to release Gordon when he’s fully healed so he can join another team. Harry is eligible to return in Week 9 against the Baltimore Ravens and should make an immediate impact to compensate for Gordon’s departure.
