Reggie Wayne is a Patriot. Will he be any good?

Reggie Wayne is a player Patriots fans should know well.

Wayne is the Colts’ all-time leader in games played and the leader among active players in receptions (1,070) and receiving yards (14,345). And, after 14 years in Indy, he’s now a New England Patriot.

The 36-year-old (who turns 37 in November) had been on the market since his final contract with the Colts expired in March, and despite reports of interest from a handful of teams in July, Wayne remained unsigned until Monday. With veteran wideout Brandon Gibson now on IR, fourth-year undrafted free agent Brian Tyms waived with an injury and Brandon LaFell, Aaron Dobson and Julian Edelman still sidelined with injury, the Patriots’ hand was forced—but Wayne could be an asset this season nonetheless.

Make no mistake, Wayne’s best years are behind him: He last eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in 2012, when he had 1,355 yards and 5 touchdowns with a rookie Andrew Luck. He was on pace to hit the mark in 2013 had he not gone on IR with a torn ACL in Week 7, and he labored to just 779 yards and a pair of touchdowns in 15 games last season. His recent stats paint a picture of receiver in steep decline, and yet it’s somewhat a deceiving one.

While 2014 was Wayne’s worst overall statistical season in a dozen years, injury-shortened 2013 aside, he was more than adequate on a per-catch basis. At 12.2 yards per reception last year, Wayne would have slotted third among Patriots pass-catchers with more than 20 targets last year, behind just Rob Gronkowski (13.7) and LaFell (12.9) and well ahead of Danny Amendola’s 7.4 mark.

He caught just 64 of 116 targets for a 55.1 percent catch rate, far below his 62.4 career rate, but he wasn’t that far off the 56.9 percent he grabbed in his first two years with Luck. Tom Brady (64.1 cmp% in 2014) is unqestionably a more accurate quarterback than Luck (61.7) at this stage in their careers, and so could bring an improvement there.


(boston.com)