The New England Patriots have a new wide receiver in veteran Eric Decker, whom they signed shortly after releasing Jordan Matthews. Decker now faces a race to get himself up to speed with the Patriots’ offensive system before the start of the regular season in a month’s time.
However, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick believes that Decker’s experience in Josh McDaniels’ offense during their time with the Denver Broncos will help smoothen his transition.
“Yeah, I’m sure it will,” Belichick said in comments distributed by the team (per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk). “Well, he’s a smart guy. I know he has recall from some of the things that we do that Josh did at Denver that are carryover. There’s a lot of differences, but there’s certainly a lot of carryover.”
Admittedly, Decker didn’t exactly have the most meaningful connection with McDaniels in Denver. McDaniels was fired just 12 games into Decker’s rookie season, and the wideout didn’t see much playing time that year.
Nevertheless, Belichick and the Patriots hope that at least some concepts from that time have stuck and will help make Decker’s bedding-in period in New England a bit quicker and easier.
With Julian Edelman out for the first four games of the season due to suspension and Jordan Matthews and Malcolm Mitchell released, the Patriots offense will need at least some production from Decker, as well as their other receivers, right away. Hopefully, McDaniels' experience with Decker's game will also help him get the most out of the veteran wideout.
Follow Us
Subscribe