New England Patriots can afford to cut Eric Decker

Even with suspensions and a limited wide receiver depth chart, the New England Patriots can afford to part ways with Eric Decker.

While he may have the name recognition, Eric Decker isn’t the same receiver we’ve come to know and love since breaking into the league as a 23-year-old for the Denver Broncos in 2010.

According to Doug Kyed of NESN, Decker is still having issues in training camp since joining the Patriots a couple of weeks ago.

There are a few things to unpack here.

It was noted that Decker pushed off of safety Patrick Chung in one-on-one drills and he dropped his second target (neither are things receivers should do). It doesn’t sound like these issues are one-time occurrences.

Right now, Kyed speculates that Decker is on the roster bubble, currently labeled “out”.

While Decker may have the name recognition, and though the Patriots have a shallow depth chart since the suspension of Julian Edelman, the Patriots can move on without Decker.

Decker had an alright season with the Tennessee Titans last season, catching 54 passes after coming off a 2016 season in which he suffered a shoulder injury early in the year, ending that campaign.

However, Decker has gone for 1,000 yards in a season just once since 2014.

Decker may have a contract that sounds like a sizable amount of money, but he’s actually only guaranteed $75,000, so there’s not a financial tether to the veteran.

Looking at Kyed’s speculated depth chart, the Patriots will go the first four weeks with Chris Hogan, Kenny Britt, Cordarrelle Patterson—who could be in for a surprise year—, Phillip Dorsett and Matthew Slater at receiver.

We all know Slater is just a special teams guy, but that depth chart, coupled with tight end Rob Gronkowski is more than enough to get them through to Week 5 when Edelman returns.

Furthermore, they have quite the backfield, too, with Sony Michel and Rex Burkhead who can complement the passing game.

It’s important to remember who’s throwing the football for the Patriots—quarterback Tom Brady. He can make just about any group of receivers work for him.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen veteran receivers come to New England later in their careers and have difficulties. Do you remember when Chad Ochocinco did so? He stuck around but had an extremely minimal role.

At this point, if Decker continues his struggled and pending an injury, Decker might be on the outside looking in.

In the end, two of these three will be on the team Week 1—Britt, Dorsett and Decker.

There’s still time for Decker to turn it around, but he’ll need to do so quickly.

Otherwise, Decker will be in the market for his fifth NFL team in his career.