A Carolina Case for Danny Amendola

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It makes absolutely no sense for the defending World Champion Patriots to keep one of my favorite players, wide receiver, Danny Amendola. We'll dig into why that's the case in a moment, but just trust me for now. Here's a bit about him before we continue. 

Height: 5-11
Weight: 195
Age: 29
 

 

Obviously, he's not a big guy. He's also not "young," per say (even though he's far from old). So why specifically should the Panthers sign him? First thing we should check off is: 

If he's good enough for us, why isn't he good enough for the Patriots?

It’s pretty simple, they have Julian Edelman and we don't. He was set to be their heir apparent to what was Wes Welker's throne until the former quarterback progressed quicker than anybody expected. If they would've known that Edelman was going to establish himself as the player he is, there's a chance Amendola may have been a Panther anyway. To channel my inner Belichick, on to the next one. 

What role would he play?

Since short, fast receiver and returner isn't an official job description, we'll say that he would play the role that Edelman played in New England, just in Carolina and minus the beard and a quarterback who calls him “babe".... Although Cam calling Amendola “babe” would be quite humorous and a field day for Marc James. 

Can he get through his injury history?

I'm not a doctor, so I have no idea. If I had to guess, I'd say probably. I'll go into why I think the issues he had in St Louis are gone, but for now I'll just say probably. 

Games Punt Returns Kick Returns
Year Tm No. G GS Ret Yds TD Lng Y/R Rt Yds TD Lng Y/Rt APYd
2009 STL 16 14 2 31 360 0 56 11.6 66 1618 0 58 24.5 2302
2010 STL 16 16 6 40 452 0 42 11.3 50 1142 0 84 22.8 2364
2011 STL 16 1 1 1 0 0 0 0.0 45
2012 STL 16 11 8 17 122 0 22 7.2 2 16 0 12 8.0 812
2013 NWE 80 12 6 1 13 0 13 13.0 647
2014 NWE 80 16 4 16 132 0 39 8.3 20 482 0 81 24.1 814
Career 70 27 106 1079 0 56 10.2 138 3258 0 84 23.6 6984
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/4/2015.

My final case

Ultimately he fills a void that Carolina has had for quite some time. He can stretch the field, and return punts and kicks. I would propose signing him to a deal in the neighborhood of 3 years/$4.5 million per year. That's a small enough risk that, if he flopped, you're not in too deep of water. His problem in St Louis was that he was really Sam Bradford's only guy. Therefore, he received a lot of attention, and that meant a ton of hits. On the flip side, a lingering health issue caused him to miss his entire first season where he watched Julian Edelman take his spot in the offense. It's hard for a wide receiver to establish a rapport with his quarterback if he never plays. In Carolina, he would play a sufficient enough role as a number three receiver from the slot to develop a chemistry with Cam that he never fully established with Brady in New England, all without receiving that brutal attention he had in St. Louis. 

Thoughts? Feel free to hit me up on Twitter @BYSSports! I'm releasing an article detailing my ideal offseason. I will be making the case for Byron Maxwell and Shane Vereen before them. Stay tuned right here at C3 and BYSSports.com 

By Jonathan Cook