How New England Patriots Can Replace Some of Julian Edelman's Production

Julian Edelman is too good to be replaced.

But don't take my word for it; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels each admitted that replacing the wide receiver could be the next in a long, long history of "one does not simply" memes, per Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal:

Let me get that for you.

It's going to take a team effort to replace someone like Edelman, just like it's been a team effort to replace both left tackle Nate Solder and running back Dion Lewis already this season after both men were placed on injured reserve.

Edelman is not lost for the entire season, but he could be out until the playoffs after having foot surgery on Monday, according to Albert Breer of NFL Network (via Around the NFL on Twitter). In the meantime, the Patriots have to at least find a way to replace some of his lost production. 

That means shifting the burden to wide receivers Danny Amendola, Brandon LaFell, Aaron Dobson, Keshawn Martin, running back James White and tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Scott Chandler.

That being said, different players have different skill sets, strengths and weaknesses, and therefore need to be treated as such.

Amendola seems to be the most logical replacement for Edelman from a skill-set perspective, but in reality, his role is predominantly as a slot receiver (85.8 percent of his routes from the slot, per Pro Football Focus) whereas Edelman was more varied in his alignments (51.2 percent of his routes from the slot).

The crux of the issue isn't who will replace Edelman's specific role, but how the offense might change with Edelman out. The Patriots could call on any number of different personnel groupings to solve this issue, as outlined by Pats Pulpit's Rich Hill:

Maybe, instead of moving Amendola into Edelman's now-vacant spot in the offense, the Patriots should just increase his workload within his current role. Of course, the Patriots offense will not be as good with Amendola as a top-two or -three pass-catcher as it was with him as the No. 4 with Edelman as the No. 1. 

Plus, that means someone still has to step up as the No. 4 pass-catcher. 

That could be Martin, who proved himself as a capable pass-catcher for the Patriots before a hamstring injury forced him to the sidelines. It could also be Chandler, who has not received quite as much work this season as was originally expected (215 snaps through nine games, 32.9 percent of the offensive total) if the Patriots opt for more two-tight end sets.

And there's still the question of who the Patriots plan to have fill the Z receiver role that Edelman has filled this season and for the past three seasons. Perhaps they could call on LaFell, who was a Z receiver in his days with the Carolina Panthers. LaFell is currently the X receiver, lining up off the line of scrimmage and on the boundary, so the Patriots would need to find someone else to fill that role.

That's where Aaron Dobson comes in. The Patriots' third-year receiver has been up-and-down throughout his career, but has found his way back into the active lineup in the past four games—although he has just three receptions to show for it.

All in all, the Patriots have enough talented skill-position players that they can mix and match their personnel groupings to find the one that works best for the time being. That's the core concept of the Erhardt-Perkins offense, anyway: running similar plays from various formations to keep the defense guessing and help the quarterback get in rhythm.

This could be the biggest test to date of those core philosophies.