In the words of Eminem’s alter ego Slim Shady: Guess who’s back? Back again?
Well, you must know the answer to that by now is Martellus Bennett. Once again, he is a member of the New England Patriots after the Green Bay Packers cut him for failing to disclose a medical issue at the time he signed with Green Bay. They somehow found out about this and since their season is going down the drain anyways, they must’ve figured they could lose for a little bit less money. Either that or they don’t like liars. Probably both.
This worked out great for the Patriots though since they were able to claim him off waivers and albeit the Pats weren’t too interested in signing him after last year (probably because they were expecting him to get big money somewhere else), it’s quite evident that this is a good fit for the team.
The biggest reason for this is because of Dwayne Allen. You and I have combined for as many catches as the Patriots No. 2 tight end this season: zero. He hasn’t caught any balls halfway through the season and he has only been targeted six times. What does that tell you about him? All you need to know I guess.
So far this season, Bennett, who hasn’t played the last two weeks, made 24 catches for 223 yards. Last year, he made 55 catches on 73 targets for 701 yards and seven touchdowns in what was the second best year of his career. So yeah, expect this to work out well.
It also reminds me of the LeGarrette Blount ordeal a few years back where he pretty much quit on the Pittsburgh Steelers and then the Pats got him back and then he was a Super Bowl champ. Truly inspirational story.
It’s also somewhat like getting Brian Hoyer or Patrick Chung back after they were away from the team, but their impact isn’t quite as large–although both are respectable players.