Patriots have a habit of taking risks on receivers in the first round

FOXBORO – So, you wonder, the Patriots were ready to bring in a single, once-sold receiver, about whom the most positive thing reported in the last two months was that he was the owner of the property. a majestic collection of sneakers – and no Dez Bryant?

The Patriots have actually imported two wide outlets while Bryant remains a free agent: Corey Coleman, sneaker-head and Bennie Fowler. But Coleman is the head of the bill, a top 15 Browns in 2016, so let's focus on him right now.

Why him and not Dez?

We do not know exactly what Bryant is looking for financially, so we'll put that aside for now. He is obviously open to playing with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

For me, this could serve as a referendum on how the Patriots perceive Bryant's skills right now.

When I asked around the pre-season if Bryant's name had been referred to One Patriot Place as a potential option to help the team numbers at the receiver, I was told no . Not yet, at least.

At that time, the Patriots were separated from Malcolm Mitchell, Jordan Matthews and Kenny Britt. Since then, they have acquired and released Chad Hansen. They saw Amara Darboh come and go quickly. They released Riley McCarron, signed him to the training team, promoted him to the active list and cut him off. They worked on the veteran Kendall Wright slot machine.

Nick Caserio and his team have been looking wherever they can to help the receiver, and the rest of the league knows it.

Still … no Dez.

An NFC coach said that the loss of Bryant in terms of skills should not be ignored. This is for me the key.

At this point, the patriots would probably be willing to support a certain level of head if it meant a significant and talented depth. Especially if this talent stretched the field.

But it's not Bryant. No more, at least.

The Patriots have several intermediate and short pass options on the list right now.

James White, Rex Burkhead and Chris Hogan all fit in this bill. Phillip Dorsett was a 4.3 second dash in the repechage a few years ago, and he still has a very good speed, but his average target against the Texans on Sunday was 7.29. nicks, accelerations and faster games.

Although Rob Gronkowski is a big game machine, he is not a classic threat.

Without more speed on the field, the teams can do what the Texans did on Sunday, flooding midfield defenders and pushing Brady to go further with low-percentage shots.

Gronkowski has made Houston pay for trips over time, but these may be passes that the Patriots want to limit because catches in this area can lead to high-speed collisions. Rob Ninkovich pointed this week at the Patriots on Monday night, calling this area a "dangerous area". The ACL ripped apart by Gronkowski in 2013, his collision with Earl Thomas who finally ended his season in 2017 and his concussion in last year's AFC title game, by example, have all had failures.

A deep threat to Gronkowski's outside? That's where Coleman could come in.

Although it was not shown in the greatest clarity about HBO's "Hard Knocks," something Coleman pointed out after his exchange with Buffalo, and that there might be questions about his personality in New -England. was brought to Foxboro – he still has the juice to draw attention to safety.

Coleman clocked 4.37 seconds after Baylor and then made comparisons with Steve Smith for his combination of speed and playability despite his size (5-foot-11).

He is not guaranteed to contribute. And he is perhaps one of the following to take a quick look, a pat on the back and a goodbye. But still, he lacks a proven experience, Coleman has one thing that Bryant does not do, which helps explain why he is there and Bryant does not.