James Lofton: Despite Julian Edelman’s suspension, receiver position for Patriots starts with Rob Gronkowski

James Lofton thinks the New England Patriots’ passing game will lose something because of Julian Edelman’s reported four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy.

Edelman is one of the best receivers in the league. And even though he’s returning from the torn ACL that sidelined him for all of last season, he was expected to add to a pass-catching corps that is missing Danny Amendola and Brandin Cooks.

‘I understand it’s a setback, it’s a blemish against his reputation a little bit, but when you watch him play, you know he’s such a hard worker’

“If he comes back at a hundred percent and is able to play the last 12 weeks of the regular season, hey, that’s what it is,” James Lofton told Bruce Murray on the SiriusXM Blitz. “Because when you’re coming back from that ACL and you’re trying to get back into the swing of things, you’re not always a hundred percent when everybody else is ready to go in Week 1. So, for Julian Edelman, I understand it’s a setback, it’s a blemish against his reputation a little bit, but when you watch him play, you know he’s such a hard worker. Did he take something he wasn’t supposed to take? Obviously. Did he knowingly take it? Who knows.

“But when you talk about the receiver position for the New England Patriots, it starts with Rob Gronkowski. (Amendola was) reliable, but not as spectacular as Julian Edelman. And you go back to when Danny Amendola first came into the door, he was supposed to jump ahead of Julian Edelman. That never happened.”