Josh Gordon to reverse the long history of failed patriotic experiences | Bleacher's report

If Monday's trade with Josh Gordon has given you a sense of déjà vu, that's because the New England Patriots have a long history of Gordon-type experiences.

The patriots' experiences are not like ordinary transactions. They always involve a player who is famous, troubled, controversial or a combination of all three. These are typically off-the-beaten-path moves, such as transactions or seasonal waiver requests, as opposed to off-season free agent signatures. These are daring and risky moves that other franchises are reluctant to make and they often pitch the world of football in a Patriots are geniuses panic.

Everyone remembers Randy Moss's trade, just as everyone knows that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. But no one thinks of the thousands of Edison experiences that have failed, and most fans forget that for every Moss craft, there are many more Patriots experiences that failed in the test tube.

The Patriotes manage to nibble in their trading lab looking for the next foam because they are perfect for many other things. But time is running out at the time of Tom Brady, and Gordon loses more and more chances after four seasons and more addiction problems. Both parties need this last experience to succeed.

The following journey through the story of crazy New England scholars can tell us a lot about what to expect from Gordon's trade, as well as the potential pitfalls that Gordon and the Patriots are facing. while he's trying to transform his career and his life. a demanding franchise in professional sports.

Martellus Bennett

The Patriots traded a fourth-round pick with the Bears to acquire Bennett and a sixth round in March 2016. Bennett proved useful in both runs and as Rob Gronkowski's health insurer that year. the season passes plus 11 more at the Super Bowl.

Similarity with Gordon: Low. Bennett was a well-traveled veteran in a different position. Even though he may have caused a stir at Tom Coughlin's during his career, the Black Unicorn has always been stranger than controversial.

Tizzy factor: Low. Bennett's trade took place as part of a series of pre-season deals around the NFL.

Lessons for Gordon: Bennett is proof that a quirky personality can fit in with the Patriots and succeed if he does what is expected of him on the field and elsewhere.

LeGarrette Blount

Blount is perhaps the most successful Post-Moss experience of the Patriots. They traded a seven-round pick for the Buccaneers for him in 2013. Blount played well that year and won four touchdowns in a playoff game, but the Patriots allowed him to sign with the Steelers in 2014.

Blount became Resident Malcontent No. 1 in Pittsburgh, winning his release after leaving the field before the end of the match. The Patriots brought him back after canceling the waivers in November 2014, and he played for two and a half seasons as a goal-line defender and quarterback scorer in the fourth quarter.

Similarity with Gordon: Moderate to high. Like Gordon, Blount was relatively young when the Patriots traded for him, and both were extremely talented players whose careers in college and the NFL continued to be distracted by off-road problems.

Tizzy factor: Low. Blount's academic incidents have placed him in the high-risk category early in his career, and the Patriots do not have the reputation of star-stack that they have at the reception or at the defense.

Lessons for Gordon: The Patriots blocked Blount as a result of an addiction offense in 2015, so they will work with a struggling player if they feel it's worth the risk.

Kenny Britt, Eric Decker, Phillip Dorsett

The Patriots signed a two-year contract with Britt last December, after the Browns released him. Last year, the busy first-round pick of 2009 doubled two assists at the end of the season, but was inactive during the playoffs. The Patriots released him in mid-August.

Decker signed with the Patriots in early August, struggled during the pre-season and retired at the end of August. Dorsett arrived in exchange for quarterback Jacoby Brissett last September and will soon fight with Gordon for the same offensive role, and perhaps a place on the list.

Similarity with Gordon: High in the case of Britt. The Browns made them available because of their unreliability. Dorsett is a major threat with skills roughly similar to Gordon's. Decker fits more clearly in the old tray "Patriots love white wide receiver".

Tizzy factor: Surprisingly high, Britt was a career disappointment chasing him for the worst NFL team, while Decker was 31 and three years younger than his last good season. Dorsett was a draft favorite, and the Patriots were hailed for having acquired a high-level talent in exchange for a quarter-third round. These acquisitions received more attention than they deserved because of the next Moss / Next-Wes Welker angle.

Lessons for Gordon: The Patriots now stack their receiver experiences three to four at a time. (Cordarrelle Patterson and Jordan Matthews may well have been included in this section.) Expectations are high, competition is constant and the Patriots will not hesitate to make another move in a few weeks if they do not want to do it. do not like what they see from Gordon. .

Brandin Cooks

The Patriots traded first- and third-round picks for the cooks and a fourth-round pick in March, got a great season, then traded it and a fourth-round pick in April for the first and second picks. sixth round of the Rams. . This sent New England off-season research for a wide receiver depth that ultimately led to the Gordon deal.

Similarity with Gordon: Moderate to high. Cooks is a young and talented catcher who has the habit of wearing his home even though he lacks Gordon's off-road problems.

Tizzy factor: High, although "tizzy" is not the best term, because the two jobs of cooks were legitimately big.

Lessons for Gordon: The cooks' one-year lease demonstrates just how ruthless patriots can be, even with a productive gambler: you have to adapt the game book, the culture and the ever-tight salary cap. On the other hand, a productive year in New England could help Gordon, like the cooks, to sign a massive contract elsewhere.

Michael Floyd

The Patriots claimed Floyd after the Cardinals released him following a DUI arrest in December 2016. Floyd caught four assists late in the season but was inactive during the playoffs. The Vikings have signed Floyd during the 2017 off season and he has played moderately for several teams since.

Similarity with Gordon: High.

Tizzy factor: Moderate to high. By Floyd's signature, "watch him catch 10 assists in the AFC championship game" was virtually an internet memo when the Patriots signed a receiver.

Lessons for Gordon: As we will see throughout this article, it is difficult for a receiver to stay with the Patriots, and the seconds are almost nonexistent.

Joey Galloway

The Patriots signed the 38-year-old deep threat, two years away from three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons for the Buccaneers, in 2009. Galloway has only collected seven assists in three games for the Patriots and has been scratched healthy a good part of the year.

Similarity with Gordon: Low, even though Galloway was a deep threat similar to that of Gordon for most of his long career.

Tizzy factor: Low. Galloway was old and Randy Moss was still on the list, so no one was looking for the next Randy Moss.

Lessons for Gordon. Here is what Galloway said after its release in 2010, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com: "Brady and I had a lot of problems and we could not find ourselves on the same page. Tom and Brady are good friends. … But there is no page for the third receiver, we would spend a week at the training, there would be one, maybe two, which would be launched in the third. there to do. "

The role of "vertical receiver" in the attack of the Patriots seems simple. But if a receiver with Galloway's experience had the impression that he did not have the representatives to pick him up after a complete off-season, Gordon has serious studies to do.

James Harrison

The Patriots signed the 39-year-old defenseman soon after the Steelers left last December. Harrison recorded three sacks last season–two against the Capitulants Jets in the final of the season–but he had a limited impact in the playoffs.

Similarity with Gordon: Very slow. The only similarity is that the Steelers were tired of an increasingly demanding player, a situation in which the Browns ended up when Gordon was hurt while filming a promotional video last week, according to Zac Jackson of The Athletic.

Tizzy Factor: High. This was hailed as a vintage Patriots genius movement, complete with Harrison-Brady's Instagram viral posts.

Lessons for Gordon: The relationship between excitement and impact for patriotic experiences has become unmanageable in recent years. Harrison became a footnote in a note in the history of the 2017 Patriots. Gordon could easily become the same.

Albert Haynesworth

The Patriots traded a fifth-round 2013 pick in Washington for the former defensive All-Pro defensive tackle in the summer of 2011. Haynesworth called New England a "career saver" during this pre-season, according to Reiss. But he only had three tackles in six games before the Pats released him after a bad game and a touchdown with the coaches in November.

Similarity with Gordon: Moderate, despite the differences between a 320-pound defender and a fast receiver. Like Gordon, Haynesworth was several years away from his signature seasons and had become more like an infamous vaporware than a real star when the Patriots traded for him.

Tizzy factor: Moderate. Haynesworth was a big name in the late 2000s and Bill Belichick had a reputation for rehabilitating defensive players when the Pats acquired him.

Lessons for Gordon: Foxborough is not the place where the career can save.

Chad Johnson

The Patriots traded in the fifth and sixth rounds with the Bengals to acquire Johnson (and then Ochocinco) in July 2011. Johnson has only 15 assists in 15 regular season games and one more in the Super Bowl against the Giants.

Similarity with Gordon: Moderate. Both players could title a feature, but the receiver briefly known as Ochocinco was another type of coach headache, and he was approaching the end of the road when the Patriots exchanged it.

Tizzy factor: High. Johnson was a multimedia superstar. His age, his personality and his ever-obvious playing potential made Moss comparisons inevitable.

Lessons for Gordon: Here's Johnson's catch, his 2016 A football life documentary (via NESN's Zack Cox): "Really, really, really a great team, but not the right system for my style of play, or just an outside receiver, unless your last name is (Randy) Moss. "

Brandon Lloyd

The Patriots signed a three-year contract with Lloyd, 31, in the 2012 off-season, two years after a career with the Broncos. Lloyd finished the 2012 season with 74 receptions for 911 yards and four touchdowns, and he played well in the playoffs, but the Patriots released him after only one season in the midst of rumors that they would not be satisfied of his efforts or his end-of-season production.

Similarity with Gordon: High. Lloyd knew of none of Gordon's documented problems, but he was not well received by many teams despite his outstanding deep-ball skills. From a purely talented point of view, Lloyd should have played a Moss-like role with the Patriots.

Tizzy factor: Low. The acquisition of Lloyd looked more like a free standard signature than a mad scientific experiment, but it is included because of the similarities of Lloyd-Gordon.

Lessons for Gordon. This is how former Patriots star Troy Brown criticized Lloyd in 2012 via Reiss: "I do not think he played for Tom Brady, and Tom Brady does not trust that guy. guys … Tom is not the most patient guy in the world when it comes to that. "

That said everything.

Aqib Talib

The Patriots traded a fourth-round pick against the Buccaneers for Talib in November 2012, after the mercurial corner-half was made possible by a four-game drug suspension to improve performance. Talib entered the Patriots' lineup immediately after the suspension and played well for them in 2012 and 2013.

Similarity with Gordon: Very high despite different positions. Talib's career has been tainted by incidents and suspensions.

Tizzy factor: Low. The deal made the front page, but nobody reacted as Belichick foiled the universe.

Lessons for Gordon: The Patriots traded against Talib during a suspension, so they are not completely unrealistic when it comes to acquiring players with a past. Gordon may not have a lot of second chances in New England, but he will get a clean slate.

Tim Tebow

No list of crazy Patriotes experiences would be complete without Tebow. The Patriots signed it in June 2013 and released it two months later.

Similarity with Gordon: None except for the renamed / production ratio.

Tizzy factor: Extreme. Placing Tebow and Patriots in the same article remains a reliable way to attract attention even five years later (wink). The speculation was deafening in the spring of 2013. Would Tebow be transferred to the end? Would the Patriots make him a Wildcat goal line? What awesome scheme did Belichick cover?

Lessons for Gordon: Whatever the excitement of Gordon 's arrival, it' s nothing compared to Tebowmania. And all the attention of the world will not matter if it does not integrate.

Reggie Wayne

You may have forgotten Wayne's 12-day term with the Patriots. He signed at the end of August 2015, played two pre-season games and then asked for his release. At the time, former quarterback Patriot Scott Zolak claims that Wayne left because the Patriots system was "too hard" and "not fun", but Belichick called Wayne an accomplished professional at the time, and Wayne has since clarified that he was just ready for retirement.

Similarity with Gordon: Low, except for the same position and the same crisis situations of the receiver.

Tizzy factor: Moderate to high. The arrival and departure of Wayne fueled a rivalry between Colts and Patriots that was still in full swing in 2015, and the story "no fun" has resurfaced this season. Not bad for 12 days and two pre-season games.

Lessons for Gordon: Like Galloway and Ochocinco, Wayne arrived as a distinguished veteran, but he could not join for any reason.

Kellen Winslow II

The Patriots signed Winslow at the start of the 2012 season after Aaron Hernandez sprained his ankle. Winslow played one game and caught a 12-yard pass, but he was also injured and asked for his release at the end of September.

Similarity with Gordon: Moderate to high because Winslow was also a struggling talent available in September because his previous team had suffered on him.

Tizzy factor: Moderate. Winslow had a season of 75 catches with the Buccaneers, so his sudden arrival in New England made waves.

Lessons for Gordon: The Patriots are not shy about hiring top veterans for a few games, so Gordon could quickly empty himself once Julian Edelman returns from his four-game PED suspension. And despite some success with players like Blount and Talib, the tragic names in this final story remind us that the Patriots are not in the area of ​​personal rehabilitation.

Conclusions of the laboratory report

Other patriotic experiences have been considered: Steven Jackson, Kony Ealy, Jordan Matthews, etc. But these are the most similar to the Gordon trade.

Relative successes were few: Bennett, Blount, Cooks, Talib, perhaps Lloyd from a purely statistical point of view. Chess is much more common, but that is how science works. And even the successes were short-term. The Patriots have hired good players, but they have not surpassed the world and have earned a true superstar since Moss.

The most important point of our review is the difficulty of succeeding as Patriot Patriots. Gordon faces a difficult battle to play an important role before even accounting for his substance story. And as Troy Brown suggested years ago, the Patriots are not patient.

We are all in favor of Gordon, because we like to see young people put their lives in order and also like to watch the touchdowns. There are enough semi-joyful purposes on this list to offer hope. And of course, there is Moss, although this trade took place 11 years ago and should not be cited as an example every time the Patriots put on their lab coats.

Gordon and the Patriots both need this experience to succeed because Brady and Gordon are both short of tomorrow for different reasons. The story suggests that it is not likely. But at least it is possible.