Patriots: Remaining free agents New England must avoid
By Jerry Trotta
1. Alshon Jeffery
During his prime, Alshon Jeffery presented arguably the biggest mismatch of any wide receiver in the league. At 6-foot-4 with incredible leaping ability and an unrivaled catch radius, very few defenders in the league could impede him in the red zone and along the sidelines.
However, that was a LONG time ago. In fact, we’d go as far as to say that Jeffery falls under the infamous washed-up category now. A former Pro Bowler who was predictably released by the Eagles this offseason, Jeffery has missed time with injuries in each of the last three years and five of the last six.
During that span, Jeffery has appeared in 30 of a possible 48 contests. Even when the former second-round pick had managed to make himself available, he was alarmingly unproductive, tallying just 114 catches for 1,448 yards and 11 touchdowns.
The Patriots better not think about signing wideout Alshon Jeffery.
While Jeffery still poses a vertical threat, which is something the Patriots’ current WR corps doesn’t have in it repertoire, his proneness to injury makes him untouchable. The fact of the matter is that the 31-year-old’s been a below-average receiver since he logged consecutive 1,000-yard seasons in 2013 and 2014.
For as much as the Patriots might need a dominant perimeter wideout — Agholor, Bourne and Meyers do most of their damage in the middle of the field — they’ve lost the plot if they think Jeffery is the answer to what might not even be a damning problem.
