The Antonio Brown era as a New England Patriot lasted all but one game. In fact, just 24 snaps.
The team released the problematic wide receiver on Friday amid sexual assault accusations, opening up passing production for the offense on the Super Bowl favorites.
Projecting New England
The first place to look is Tom Brady's expectations. Brady had been numberFire's QB6 the rest of the season and was expected to finish as a top-6 quarterback in 44.1% of simulated seasons in my projections using numberFire's data. He's since fallen a tad to our QB7 and is 35.4% likely to be a top-six quarterback the rest of the season.
We do project Brady to have similar efficiency with and without Brown, based on his Passing Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon fell to the WR22 and WR40, respectively, as Brown commanded a 28.6% target share in Week 2, including 5 of 7 red zone targets and 4 end zone targets.
When simulating out the season 1,000 times, Edelman was projected to finish as a top-12 receiver in 20.0% of seasons and as a top-24 performer 57.5% of the time. He was worse than the WR30 in 31.8% of the sims.
For Gordon, he had a 2.4% chance to finish top-12, a 16.7% chance to finish top-24, and a 71.9% chance to finish outside the top 30 in fantasy points. Here were the raw projections for the relevant pass-catchers.
| With Brown | Pos | Targets | Receptions | Yards | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julian Edelman | WR | 104 | 68 | 828 | 6.4 |
| Josh Gordon | WR | 81 | 45 | 679 | 5.7 |
| James White | RB | 77 | 57 | 474 | 4.7 |
| Rex Burkhead | RB | 38 | 29 | 247 | 2.1 |
| Phillip Dorsett | WR | 24 | 15 | 199 | 1.7 |
| Benjamin Watson | TE | 21 | 15 | 146 | 1.5 |
| N'Keal Harry | WR | 13 | 8 | 101 | 1.0 |
| Matt LaCosse | TE | 12 | 8 | 89 | 0.9 |
| Sony Michel | RB | 8 | 6 | 49 | 0.5 |
Without Brown, Edelman jumped a bit to the WR17, though his ceiling increased despite the dip in attempts projected. Edelman finished as a top-six performer in 10.3% of the simulated seasons, as well as a top-12 wideout in 32.7% of the seasons (up from 20.0%). His top-24 seasons the rest of the way are now up to 70.0%.
For Gordon, he bumped up to the WR28 in our rest-of-way rankings. His top-12 upside remains low (8.8%) but is expected to be a top-24 fantasy receiver 37.6% of the time.
| Without Brown | Pos | Targets | Receptions | Yards | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julian Edelman | WR | 108 | 70 | 854 | 7.4 |
| Josh Gordon | WR | 89 | 49 | 741 | 6.9 |
| James White | RB | 72 | 53 | 442 | 4.9 |
| Phillip Dorsett | WR | 59 | 37 | 485 | 4.8 |
| Rex Burkhead | RB | 47 | 35 | 300 | 2.8 |
| Jakobi Meyers | WR | 28 | 17 | 198 | 2.1 |
| Matt LaCosse | TE | 21 | 14 | 155 | 1.8 |
| Benjamin Watson | TE | 18 | 13 | 128 | 1.5 |
| Sony Michel | RB | 12 | 9 | 73 | 0.8 |
| N'Keal Harry | WR | 11 | 7 | 87 | 0.9 |
Takeaways
According to our numbers, the release doesn't make Edelman a lock to finish as a top-12 wideout, as we project a decline in volume. However, naturally, he and Gordon get a significant market share boost after looking like they'd be nearly left for dead relative to their expectations before the Brown signing.
Another big winner here is Phillip Dorsett, who played 84% of snaps in New England's Week 1 game. His target projection climbed from 24 to 59. While he's a mere afterthought in regular-sized fantasy leagues, he is our WR61 the rest of the way, which can have appeal in deep leagues. He also could be on the radar for daily fantasy lineups as the third option in the passing offense.
Brown came and went, but it should be mostly business as usual for the efficient Patriots offense.