The New England Patriots will enter free agency with a couple of glaring needs this offseason: wide receiver and tight end.
Outside of Julian Edelman, the Patriots did not have a consistent receiving threat this year. Josh Gordon didn't work out. Rookie wide out N'Keal Harry barely played due to injuries. Mohamed Sanu was a bust of a pickup. Phillip Dorsett did next to nothing. The tight end spot was an unmitigated disaster. Antonio Brown was, well, Antonio Brown.
As a result, New England's offense had trouble getting off the ground for much of the year, and the Pats suffered an early playoff exit, their earliest since the 2009-10 campaign.
While there are questions surrounding Tom Brady's future in Foxborough, he currently doesn't really have many options to throw to if he does end up returning, so even if he does come back, it will be more of the same for the soon-to-be 43-year-old if the Patriots don't make any significant offseason moves.
The good news is that Bill Belichick is in charge, so he will surely be able to identify New England's most prominent issues and rectify them.
There will also be numerous good wide receivers on the free-agent market, and one of them is a wide out that the Pats are quite familiar with: Robby Anderson.
Anderson has spent his first four years of his NFL career with the New York Jets, and while he isn't a No. 1 receiver, he is certainly talented enough to be a No. 2, and he has posted solid numbers without the benefit of any sort of consistency under center in New York.
This season, Anderson caught 52 passes for 779 yards and five touchdowns, production that the Patriots certainly could have used, and back in 2017, he hauled in 63 receptions for 941 yards and seven scores, an even bigger indication of his ability.
Not only would Anderson provide Brady (assuming he returns) with another option, but he would give him something that New England has sorely needed for quite some time: a vertical threat.
Harry was supposed to fill that role this season, and he very well might next year, but we just don't know yet.
In Anderson's case, however, the 26-year-old is a proven burner who can beat his man down the field and make big plays. He has so-so hands, but his size (6-foot-3) and athleticism compensates for that.
Think about what Anderson can potentially do on an offense that isn't terrible. It's fun to imagine.
Again, Anderson will never be an elite wide out, but put him in the right situation, and he can cause some damage.
Another plus for Anderson is that he stays healthy, as he has missed just two games in his NFL career, and for a Patriots' receiving corps that was riddled with injuries in 2019, that's a big selling point.
New England knows what it has to do this offseason, and acquiring a receiver like Anderson could go a long way to making the Pats a legitimate threat in the AFC once again.
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