The New England Patriots got Tom Brady some help Tuesday when they sent a second-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for veteran wide receiver Mohamed Sanu.
Brady is happy with the new addition even if he doesn’t know what role Sanu will play in the Patriots’ offense.
“I think those things, they remain to be seen and I think it is one thing to talk about it and it is another thing to go out and do it,” Brady said Wednesday morning on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show. “I am excited to have him. I have watched him for a long time. I have just heard great things from a lot of people who have been around him and Coach (Bill Belichick) always says your role is what you make of it and that is really to be determined with what we do in the meetings and on the practice field so we can gain confidence and trust as quickly as possible and go out and try and help us do a better job of scoring points.”
Sanu has 377 career receptions for 4,300 yards with 25 touchdowns in 110 games with 86 starts. He’s caught 33 passes for 313 yards with one touchdown in seven games this season. He’s also added 40 carries for 215 yards with two touchdowns in his career, and the high school quarterback has gone 7-of-8 passing for 233 yards with four touchdowns and a perfect 158.3 passer rating.
Sanu now has to learn the Patriots’ offensive system after joining his new team at midseason. Brady said he isn’t sure if Sanu’s experience will help him catch on quickly.
“I have never been around him or anything like that, but we’ll just have to see how it goes and try to improve day-by-day,” Brady said. “I know that sounds like a cliche answer, but that is the truth. He’s been in a different offense for a long period of time. It’s not like you come in and all of a sudden you know everything. He certainly knows how to play pro football and has played it at a very high level, so that obviously helps. It’s just learning our terminology and again, just working at it together.
“I have said for a long time, the quarterback-receiver relationship is very important. It’s very unique. They can’t get themselves the ball and I can’t do their job. You have to see things the same way. You have to react and anticipate the same way. I think you see that with players who I have played with for long periods of time whether it is Deion Branch, Troy Brown, Wes Welker, Julian (Edelman). The years and years that you accumulate together really paying off because there’s a lot of things that you can talk about that maybe a year ago they come up on a Monday night game and you’re able to react and play fast and anticipate and it leads to better execution.”
Brady doesn’t have “years and years” to work with Sanu like he did with Branch, Brown, Welker and Edelman, so he’ll have to help the Rutgers product acclimate as quickly as possible.
Sanu joins Edelman, Phillip Dorsett, Jakobi Meyers, Gunner Olszewski and Matthew Slater on the Patriots’ wide receiver depth chart. Josh Gordon currently is dealing with knee and ankle injuries, and rookie N’Keal Harry is eligible to return off of injured reserve next week.
The Patriots play the Cleveland Browns on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.
