Patriots WR Aaron Dobson's Punishment Hurts the Team More Than the Player

So let's get this straight: The New England Patriots lack weapons on offense, and one player who could potentially help is second-year wide receiver Aaron Dobson. But Dobson has been inactive as a healthy scratch for the past two games and three of the first four games this season.

The reason for the past two deactivations, according to Shalise Manza Young of The Boston Globe, is that Dobson mouthed off to offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. 

So the Patriots have hamstrung their own offense as a disciplinary measure against Dobson's immaturity? Who is learning a lesson here?

Make no mistake: If Dobson mouthed off to McDaniels, he absolutely deserves to be punished. But if their problems are receivers struggling to get open and a lack of explosive plays in the pass game, couldn't the Patriots have found another means of punishment that didn't also deprive them of a player who could potentially provide both, without hurting the team's chances to win on game days? Would a fine not do the trick? 

This is not unlike Patriots head coach Bill Belichick opting to suspend former Patriots wide receiver Wes Welker for the first quarter of the team's 2010 Divisional Round playoff game against the New York Jets—a game they would ultimately lose, with the Patriots putting up only three points in the first quarter—for jokes he made about New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan.

Maybe Dobson wouldn't fix all the problems with the Patriots offense, but the Patriots have hardly had a chance to find out. His career got off to a rough start, with three drops in his first game and a combined six drops in his first five games, but things leveled off for him a bit at that point, and he dropped only three passes in the final seven games he played last season.

He has played in 13 regular-season games, but one of those games was shortened by a foot injury. He also had a limited role in the AFC Championship Game while still dealing with the injury. He was held out of practices this past spring and summer as he rehabbed from the operations to repair the injury—with a surgically inserted screw in his foot.

Perhaps McDaniels didn't want to speak out of turn, but he gave an interesting answer last week in a conference call with Patriots media when asked what goes into deciding who will be active each week—particularly as it pertains to Dobson and fellow second-year wideout Kenbrell Thompkins:

"

I think that relative to who is active and how those decisions are made, I think that's a great question for Bill because we obviously work hard with all of the guys over the course of the week, and eventually those decisions are going to be made by Coach Belichick in terms of who we are actually going to suit up for the game, because obviously we can only suit up a certain number offensively and defensively. That's really for him to answer.

I think for those two players, they have played similar positons in our offense, and they've both been productive last year off and on different spurts of the season. They missed some time, but they were both productive when they had their opportunities, and I think that they're both second-year players, still young guys, continuing to learn and improve as we go. And in Aaron’s case, he missed a significant portion of the offseason as well.

"

McDaniels sidestepped the question, passing the buck to Belichick as the ultimate decider of game-day inactives. McDaniels did elaborate that Dobson and Thompkins play similar roles, and that those similarities may lead to one or the other not playing, but as the offensive coordinator, he should have a say in who plays a part in the game plan.

Belichick alluded to a quicker passing attack in a pregame interview that aired on 98.5 The Sports Hub (h/t Mike Loyko of NEPatriotsDraft.com), saying, "Tom will have to get the ball out quickly, [and] receivers will have to get open quickly." 

But according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Dobson in 2013 caught 27 of his 39 regular-season and postseason receptions within nine yards of the line of scrimmage. The other 12 receptions were made 10 yards or more downfield. 

He had the best rookie season of any Patriots wide receiver in the Tom Brady era, so it's a little hard to believe Dobson's benching is strictly football-based. He's not even being listed on the injury report anymore, so it's even harder to believe that his benching is based on any lingering effects of the offseason foot surgery.

Signs seem to point to him being benched for off-field issues.

As the offense continues to struggle, one must wonder how much longer the Patriots can sit Dobson without it having an impact on their season. Dobson may not be single-handedly costing the Patriots precious wins by sitting on the bench, but the offense needs all the help it can get, and at the very least Dobson could be a floatation device for a drowning unit.

The Patriots may not need to move on from Dobson just yet. If the second-year wide receiver can learn from the mistakes that led to this situation in the first place, he can avoid it happening again. That would, hopefully, lead to him getting back on the field, where he can make plays for his team.

Unless otherwise noted, all quotes obtained via team news release and all stats obtained via Pro-Football-Reference.com.

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