Why You Should Love The Patriots For Fantasy This Year!

Look for Brady to have a big year along with a
slew of other Patriots.  With Gronk back, this
is a different team, especially for fantasy.

The Patriots, much like many of the past seasons recently, made it to the AFC championship, only to lose to a much better Bronco team.  Brady had a pretty good season, fairly pedestrian for him since he went berserk in 2007, but much like the years previous with more yards.  Many have begun to state how it is the beginning of his downfall or he didn't have receivers or whatever the case people wanted to make.  Here at ATP, we have thought differently, as we have linked it to a few different factors including Gronk missing most of the season, Hernandez going on a killing spree, Amendola being injured or not on the same page as Brady among other ideas.  There is also the idea that maybe the Patriots realizing with defenses changing up due to the pass heavy offenses of the NFL, going with more of a run approach with a threat to pass is good enough to get you to the AFC Championship, which in case you didn't notice, worked. 
The 2014 Patriots, seem to be going all in as they have acquired Revis, which a few years ago would have seemed insane for Belichick to do.  I think that many people complain as they did not do enough to help the offense, I contend that there was not much for them to do.  Gronk coming back, does so much to help this offense that I don't think people realize.  Losing Hernandez on top of Gronk changed the offense last year tremendously.  This year, they went out and got Tim Wright, who in one scenario can be Gronk insurance or he can be just the type of guy that can take over where Hernandez left off.  This all leads to how does it affect how you should be drafting Patriots for fantasy football.  The 2 guys I am highest on are Brady and Gronk.  Brady seems to be an after thought in many drafts, which shows that people rely too much on old information.  His best games last season were when Gronk was in the mix.  When he was not, the Patriots were happy to rely on their running game and Brady making good reads when needed, but limiting their turnover potential.  At running back, you will be safe with either Vareen or Ridley, but Vareen should be taken a few rounds behind in non ppr leagues as I don't think there is any situation where he carries the ball for 20 times a game outside of one game, maybe two, which will be game plan situations.  Ridley will be their goal line back and as long as he doesn't fumble will have a lot more room to run with Gronk in the mix.  Two guys that can be picked up relatively late or even as free agents are Amendola and Tim Wright as they could both be good value picks.  Amendola would be a better ppr pick as well as he is not going to be a scoring machine.  Edelman, who I think will have a good year, is going too high in most drafts.  He may be worth it in a ppr league, but I think his catches might be similar to last year, but his touchdowns and yards will take a hit with everybody back in the mix, which will hurt in regular fantasy leagues.  This is a team that will surprise a lot of teams fantasy wise and I like them as the best team in the AFC this season.