Can the Patriots unearth a fantasy stud with Josh Gordon?
The New England Patriots are a nice landing spot for Josh Gordon, but can he make a real fantasy impact over the rest of the season?
Upon new the Cleveland Browns were going to part with Josh Gordon, the New England Patriots were easy to point to as a potential landing spot.
On Monday that came to fruition, as the Patriots have reportedly sent a conditional fifth-round pick to the Browns for the talented, but at times troubled, wide receiver.
After a hamstring injury surfaced late last week, Gordon is apparently healthy enough to play in Week 3 after an MRI came out fine. That positive diagnosis was probably a big part of Cleveland being able to trade Gordon and the Patriots got a deal done.
Gordon is immediately the most talented wide receiver Tom Brady has had since Randy Moss. In a corresponding move they released Corey Coleman, who now may land on his fourth roster in a little over a month’s time.
Confirmation of Gordon’s playing status for Week 3 against the Detroit Lions should come at some point. How quickly he can get up to speed with the Patriots’ playbook stands to dictate how much he plays, in his first game or down the road.
When he led the league in receiving yards over 14 games in 2013, along with 87 receptions and nine touchdowns, Gordon finished as WR2 in fantasy. Of course since then he has played in just 11 games over four-plus seasons.
In those 11 aforementioned games, Gordon has averaged 8.4 targets per game with double-digit targets four times (including in two of his first three games back in action last year). So when he’s been on the field, snap count and overall involvement has not been an issue.
Gordon was dropped in a fair percentage of fantasy leagues, even with a growing idea he’d land on a new team quickly. But he’s still owned in 86 percent of Yahoo! leagues and 91 percent of ESPN leagues, and those that hung onto Gordon now have a chance to see a nice payoff.
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Gordon can’t be put into a fantasy lineup with any confidence in Week 3, and for a lot of reasons there are no real guarantees to latch onto. But for now Gordon can be kept on fantasy rosters, and it’s worth checking to make sure he’s still spoken for in your league.