It happened on his third catch of the New England Patriots’ opening drive if that tells you anything of his value to the team. Wide receiver Julian Edelman suffered a torn ACL in his right knee in what looked like a non-contact injury while making a cut on a nice run after catch.
Edelman’s loss for the Patriots is huge and don’t let anybody tell you different. Yes, they have a solid wide receiver corps without him, but let me ask you this; would the Patriots have won Super Bowl 51 without Julian Edelman?
Yeah. Let that sit there like a crazy homeless guy’s street turd.
The issue isn’t whether New England will have a guy ready to start in Edelman’s place. They have two guys, Malcolm Mitchell and Chris Hogan. But those two wideouts bring a significantly different set of skills to the field than Edelman. They’re downfield receivers. Edelman was a possession guy that could keep the chains moving. He caught, on average, nine passes a game for the Pats last season. Hogan and Mitchell don’t look like they’re that kind of guy.
Who is? Danny Amendola, who will likely find himself used parked in the slot on Edelman downs this season. Will he be as productive as Edelman? Not likely as they team currently has him listed as their No. 5 wide receiver at best.
Any alley, any trench, on any field…I fight with my brother. Always. @Edelman11 #gottabelieve #warrior #je11inc® pic.twitter.com/RPrvKLZVF7
— Danny Amendola (@DannyAmendola) August 26, 2017
To pretend that New England can just slide another guy into that spot is to negate how talented Edelman actually is. The Patriots got lucky in they had two straight guys with that skillset, Wes Welker and then Edelman. Asking Amendola to be as productive when he’s already been on the team for years and hasn’t shown that ability is a stretch.
The Patriots made more news Saturday when they announced they had cut defensive end Kony Ealy, who they’d just acquired in an off-season trade with the Carolina Panthers. The Pats sent their second round pick to Carolina for, what is now, absolutely nothing.
So that makes two teams Ealy has been shed from while wearing a doghouse on his back. It’s a quick fall for a guy who could have been Super Bowl 50’s MVP. Last year with the Panthers Ealy started six games and played in all 16, recording 32 tackles, five sacks, two forced fumbles, three passes defended and one interception. He should have no trouble at all finding his way onto another roster soon enough and it wouldn’t shock me to see him sign with the Buffalo Bills and his old defensive coordinator Sean McDermott before the weekend is out.
Chiefs get a scare with Ware
Spencer Ware went down with a knee injury of his own on the Kansas City Chiefs’ first drive Friday night against the Seattle Seahawks. Unlike Edelman, it appears Ware will be able to avoid the knife after preliminary tests showed he’d just suffered a sprained knee and his ACL was intact.
He’s schedule to undergo an MRI Saturday, but the Chiefs may have dodged a bullet here. At the very least, Ware will likely miss at least a week or two of the regular season.
#Chiefs RB Spencer Ware will have an MRI Saturday to determine the extent of his knee sprain & if there's damage to the meniscus, PCL or MCL
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 26, 2017
The Chiefs are at least prepared with a solid depth chart of running backs. Charcandrick West will probably slide into the starting role, with rookie Kareem Hunt and veteran C.J. Spiller in the mix as well.
Last season Ware started 14 games, rushed 214 times for 921 yards and three touchdowns. He caught 33 passes for 447 yards and two scores.
Jaguars going with Bortles
One game of their positions flipped was enough for Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Doug Marrone to make the call. After letting Chad Henne start Thursday’s preseason game and Blake Bortles come in later, Marrone has decided to roll with Bortles for Week One. He didn’t say anything beyond that.
“I think that the first thing that I look at is to make sure that who’s going to give us the best chance to win in the situation that we’re in,” Marrone said. “I look at everything, not just the quarterback position, of how we want to play and what we want to do. I think Blake had the ability to extend plays for us, which I think is going to be helpful in what we have to get done.”
Doug Marrone: "I have named Blake Bortles the starting QB for week 1
Allen Robinson: pic.twitter.com/q6H3s0BEtD
— #1 cj gardner-johnson fan acc/Eagles (6-11) (@ChuckThaGawd) August 26, 2017
Bortles actually had his best performance of the preseason against the Carolina Panthers Thursday. Coming off the bench, he completed 12-of-16 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. Henne was 8-of-14 for 73 yards and no touchdowns.
Bortles’ biggest problem this season is his confidence and, frankly, the Jags need to invest in some kind of sports psychologist today.
“Anytime you get named a starter, it’s a cool feeling, obviously,” Bortles said. “But it doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t change the mindset. …So I think it’s a constant effort, as it was a couple weeks ago to try and perform out of respect to the coaches and players in every snap.”
49ers put Ahmed Brooks on the street
With the team’s conversion to a 4-3 defense, linebacker Ahmad Brooks and his salary were expendable. Friday night, they both got expended.
The San Francisco 49ers released Brooks after failing to trade him over the last few weeks.
“We would like to thank Ahmad for his nine years of service and contributions to the 49ers,” general manager John Lynch said in a statement. “In that time, he played a significant role on some formidable defensive units that helped this team achieve great success. We feel good about the depth and competition along our defensive front and believe that by making this decision now it will give Ahmad a head start on exploring his options with other teams. We wish him and his family nothing but the best.”
#49ers Really? Release Ahmed Brooks? One of your few reliably consistent defensive producers, leading tackler for… https://t.co/uRAI0lry0u
— Thomas Leavitt (@tvleavitt) August 25, 2017
Brooks is a two-time All-Pro linebacker and is probably pretty happy today. He made it clear this off-season he had no desire to go through a rebuilding year. Last season Brooks started 15 games and played in all 16, recording 53 tackles with six sacks, one forced fumble and four passes defended.
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