Amendola Again

[JerBear]

MOD EDIT: http://central.sonsofsamhorn.net/nfl/amendola-again/
by Mark Schofield
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Well, I'll start things here and SSF can move it if it makes more sense on an article that may exist in the future.
 
I rewatched the copy of the game that I had (broadcast, not all22) to see what Amendola did in his 28 snaps.

• 10 of the plays he was in on were either runs or screens where his primary role was blocking.
• About 10:00 left in the 2nd quarter he's in a trips formation.  Edelman runs an out and Amendola trips a bit in his break and is starting to pull away from his defender as Brady hits Edelman on the out.  It looks like Amendola is just getting a step when Brady releases to Edelman.  If someone with All22 can see if the safety would have been there on the deep ball.  It looked like Edelman was a read earlier than Amendola on the out and came open so Brady hit him for the 1st down.  EDIT: not a trip formation, I can't read my own notes.  He trips on his break, not in a trips formation.
• Next time he runs a route is a little hook and he's open with a defender there to prevent any YAC.  Brady hits Vereen who appears to be his 2nd read before looking Amendola's way.
• 5:48 left in 2Q, 3rd&2.  Amendola lines up on the line and runs into the flat.  He's open on the PA but the protection is breaking down and Brady lobs one to Edelman who draws a DPI. If protection held up I think Amendola would have been the primary read and had an easy first down.
• He runs a curl at the goal line but Gronk is wide open on his crossing route for the easy TD.
• I'm not sure what he's doing on the next play but Gronk is read1 and Edelman is read2 and is open on an out route at the 1st down marker.
• He's on the mess of a 3rd down play at the end of the half but he gets no separation and wouldn't have been a reasonable option had the snap been good.
• Next route the protection breaks down but he gets no separation from the DB before Brady goes down.
• 6:23 left in 3Q he runs a crossing route and appears to be coming open but Brady is about the throw to Edelman (out of the shot on my replay) when he gets hit.
• 13:50 left in 4Q he's the primary read on 3rd&Goal.  He gets enough seperation but Brady just overthrows and the pass glances off his fingertips.
• 11:15 left is a short hook that is well covered but it allows Edelman separation on his wheel route that Brady hits.
• Next is the pick from LaFell
• He runs a deep post and pulls the safety coverage which allows LaFell single coverage.  Woodson reads Brady and breaks up the play.
• 8:28 doesn't matter since Vereen was single covered by a LB and was the only read the whole way.
• 7:45 runs an out and up off PA and appears to have gotten a step.  Brady is under pressure, escapes and hits LaFell for a first down.  I can't tell if OAK38 is coming down on LaFell once the ball is released but if he's breaking before the pass Amendola will be open down the sideline.
• Can't tell what should happen here.  It looks like he's running a route but Brady gets anxious and throws is at LaFell's feet.

My general thoughts after watching him is that he seems to be getting some seperation but he's the 3rd or 4th read on the plays.  Edelman does a good job of getting enough of an opening that Brady goes to him since he's almost always an earlier read in the play.  The plays where he's the first read (the almost TD and the pick play) he seems to get open but something just doesn't click.
 
I'll be interested to see what Mark has to say since he's way better at this and is willing to pay for the All22 film. 

 

[mascho]

Interestingly enough, I did the same thing and broke down each play. Article is going through editing now and will be posted in the near future.  
 
Good stuff.

 

[Stitch01]

I don't see a trips formation play at 10:00 left in the 2nd, but I see one with two backs where Amendola stumbles out of the break and, yeah, there's no way to throw that deep there's a safety there.
The ball is gone before Amendola's break on that next hook route
He might have been open on that 6:23 play, but that's a pretty easy pitch and catch first down to Edelman if he doesn't get hit
He is going to come open at 7:45 (not sure if it was a designed out and up or just an improvisation on the scramble).  38 is still 8 yards off when the ball is released.  If Brady pump fakes Amendola is open for a TD, but the easy throw to LaFell was pretty defensible on the run.
Can't say I see a lot of Brady not throwing to an open Amendola.

 

[JerBear]

I don't see a trips formation play at 10:00 left in the 2nd, but I see one with two backs where Amendola stumbles out of the break and, yeah, there's no way to throw that deep there's a safety there.

You're right.  I wrote down that he trips on his break in my notes and for some reason wrote that he was in a trips formation.  Edited above.  I assumed there was a safety there but the broadcast but you can't see where #26 goes after the snap.  With LaFell stopping at the sticks I assumed he was shadowing Amendola's side but couldn't say for sure.

 

[mascho]

I think this is the play you're thinking of, where Amendola slips.  
 
http://vid809.photobucket.com/albums/zz11/mascho030916/ScreenCaptureProject47-1.mp4
 
He's the middle receiver in the trips and slips coming out of his break.

 

[soxfan121]

http://central.sonsofsamhorn.net/nfl/amendola-again/
by Mark Schofield
 

Following his second straight game without a reception, questions abound regarding Danny Amendola’s usage by the Patriots and Tom Brady. We evaluated every passing play against Oakland when Amendola was on the field to determine if he was getting open and, if so, whether Brady was looking to get him the ball. Now, we know that Amendola joined the huddle for 13 passing plays, excluding yet another catch nullified by infraction-prone Brandon LaFell’s offensive pass interference penalty. On eight of these snaps Amendola was open but was only targeted once; let’s take a closer look at what happened.
 

 

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Well it's what I've been saying: he's open but the QB isn't looking to him at all.
 
It's pretty simple: it's on the QB. If Brady isn't utilizing a weapon despite that weapon being available, that's a huge problem. No wonder the offense is going nowhere.

 

[JerBear]

Well it's what I've been saying: he's open but the QB isn't looking to him at all.
 
It's pretty simple: it's on the QB. If Brady isn't utilizing a weapon despite that weapon being available, that's a huge problem. No wonder the offense is going nowhere.

I don't think its that he's not looking at Amendola, I think he's designed to be later in the reads than Edelman, Vereen, and Gronk so far this season.  Edelman is (to my eye) running the option routes that Brady expects and getting open enough as the 1st or 2nd read and he's getting a lot of balls thrown his way.  Brady is running through his progressions and throwing to the first opening he sees.  My bigger concern would be that his progressions have to start with the 5-6 yard option routes because protection isn't allowing him enough time to get anything deeper.
 
It seemed to me that Amendola wasn't getting early separation on a lot of his routes, couldn't get past an early bump but was starting to pull away 8-10 yards downfield. Unfortunately for him that was either after the pocket broke down or someone else had already come open.
 
In the article I think you've got the videos out of order.  Play 10 should be play 12 and play 12 is a blank file.

 

[Stitch01]

Well it's what I've been saying: he's open but the QB isn't looking to him at all.
 
It's pretty simple: it's on the QB. If Brady isn't utilizing a weapon despite that weapon being available, that's a huge problem. No wonder the offense is going nowhere.

I really don't see that at all from the film, which play do you believe Brady should have thrown to Amendola?  They could scheme more to get Amendola open or run more plays when he's the primary read, but its sort of right there in the article and on the film that Brady isn't ignoring or missing Amendola when he's open.  
 
Brady hasn't been great, his downfield accuracy is a bit of a mess, but he's way down the list of problems in the offense.

 

[mascho]

Vids should be fixed now. Thanks JB.

 

[Leather]

I find it hard to believe that every play is designed so that the reads go: 1) Edelman; 2) Gronk; 3) Vereen; 4) Anybody else.
 
That seems like high school scheming.  I find it far more likely that A) Brady is less likely to look to Amendola for more than a split second on the plays where he's the first or second read; and B) he never looks to Amendola when Edelman and Gronk are the first reads.  
 
If Amendola is getting open, he needs to be utilized, if only to draw attention away from the two main targets.  For this offense to get going, Brady has to be focusing on Amendola at least half as much as he focuses on Edelman and Gronk.

 

[Stitch01]

I find it hard to believe that every play is designed so that the reads go: 1) Edelman; 2) Gronk; 3) Vereen; 4) Anybody else.
 
That seems like high school scheming.  I find it far more likely that A) Brady is less likely to look to Amendola for more than a split second on the plays where he's the first or second read; and B) he never looks to Amendola when Edelman and Gronk are the first reads.  
 
If Amendola is getting open, he needs to be utilized, if only to draw attention away from the two main targets.  For this offense to get going, Brady has to be focusing on Amendola at least half as much as he focuses on Edelman and Gronk.

 
I think Jer Bear is right
 

It seemed to me that Amendola wasn't getting early separation on a lot of his routes, couldn't get past an early bump but was starting to pull away 8-10 yards downfield. Unfortunately for him that was either after the pocket broke down or someone else had already come open.
 

 
So A) when Brady is looking at Amendola early he's not really open and B) if he's the third read Brady is basically dead before he gets there in the progression.
 
I was surprised at how little the Raiders seemed to be scheming to take away Edelman.  I was expecting to see Brady forcing the ball to him and Gronk but, on the Amendola snaps in the article, that really didn't seem to be happening.

 

[JerBear]

I think Edelman and Gronk are typically the first reads because they are the 2 best receivers.  Vereen is the most likely the have a pre-snap favorable match-up so he also gets multiple plays where he becomes the first read and its clear the best/easiest play is to him.
 
I just watched play 10 a few times and I think Amendola's slip might have been a well disguised but poorly executed pick.  He "trips" with the outside defender right as Edelman is making his break.  I think he does something similar in play 3 where Edelman is running his route up field behind him.  Right before Edelman breaks outside Amendola seems to slip a bit (Edelman might be pushing him in the back) and gets caught up with the defenders which allows Edelman a clean look outside.

 

[Harry Hooper]

I think Edelman and Gronk are typically the first reads because they are the 2 best receivers.  Vereen is the most likely the have a pre-snap favorable match-up so he also gets multiple plays where he becomes the first read and its clear the best/easiest play is to him.
 
 

 
 
This is the thing I've been wondering about. One would think that for about 5 plays a game, Brady would see pre-snap that Amendola has the most favorable match-up and be targeted, but we haven't seen that.

 

[tims4wins]

 
 
This is the thing I've been wondering about. One would think that for about 5 plays a game, Brady would see pre-snap that Amendola has the most favorable match-up and be targeted, but we haven't seen that.

 
Well in fairness he has had, what, 3 catches called back due to OPI on someone else?

 

[mascho]

It looked to me like New England ran a lot of plays where the weakside routes were the first reads, often from a WR down to the RB out of the backfield. Plays 6 and 13 are examples of that. Particularly on 13, where you have the WR on one one outside and Vereen matched up with a backup LB out of the backfield. Against a team running a lot of Cover 1 or Cover 3, it makes sense to go weakside because you have more space for the outside receiver (less bodies around) and usually an LB on a RB underneath. 
 
Kansas City runs a fair amount of Cover 3, so we will see if that is the same Monday. Their secondary is their defensive soft spot and their best player back there is banged up and couldn't go against Miami. 

 

[DJnVa]

Well it's what I've been saying: he's open but the QB isn't looking to him at all.
 
It's pretty simple: it's on the QB. If Brady isn't utilizing a weapon despite that weapon being available, that's a huge problem. No wonder the offense is going nowhere.

 

I think that with the OL problems Brady is going through his reads and the first guy that's open gets the ball. Brady has no confidence to go through all his progressions right now then maybe come back to someone else. If 1 is open, the ball is away. If not, look to 2. There's no quick glance at all of them then a decision because Brady has less time.
 
At least, I'm assuming he does.
 
Can someone with the time tell how quick the ball is out of his hand this year versus other years? Is that available somewhere?

 

[lexrageorge]

Not sure how this would be all on Brady.  Looking at those 15 snaps, we have:
 
4 where it appears he's open (or unknown), but there was a better read (e.g., the wide open Gronk in the end zone; Vereen mismatch).
4 where he's open but Brady is either hit or forced to hurry the ball.
3 well covered (but in some cases allows another back/WR to be open)
1 where Amendola trips (and Brady completes the pass anyway to Edelman)
1 Brady overthrow.
1 OPI which is on LaFell or the zebras.
1 great play by Woodson.  It happens. 
 
A couple of those are on Brady (the overthrow obviously); a couple are on the OL; the OPI has nothing to do with either; and a couple are on Amendola.  Of the 4 situations where Amendola was not the primary read, it appears all 4 passes were completed, which indicates the correct read was made by the QB.  
 
Perhaps Brady deserves some of the blame for missing the open Amendola when he was under pressure.  But so does the OL; you can't design plays around the offensive line continually breaking down either.  

 

[Stitch01]

From PFF
 
Brady '14: 2.37 to throw (until pass, sack or run) 2.34 to attempt (5th and 5th)
Brady '13: 2.46 to throw (until pass, sack, or run) 2.39 to attempt (4th and 5th)
Brady '12:  2.47 to throw, 2.42 to attempt (3rd fastest)
 
Manning is always among the leaders as well, sacks are usually a function of QB and scheme as well as OL

 

[Super Nomario]

This is the thing I've been wondering about. One would think that for about 5 plays a game, Brady would see pre-snap that Amendola has the most favorable match-up and be targeted, but we haven't seen that.

I think Tarell Brown did a really good job on Amendola. I don't think it's a coincidence that the one target Amendola got was with rookie T.J. Carrie on him.  
 

It looked to me like New England ran a lot of plays where the weakside routes were the first reads, often from a WR down to the RB out of the backfield. Plays 6 and 13 are examples of that. Particularly on 13, where you have the WR on one one outside and Vereen matched up with a backup LB out of the backfield. Against a team running a lot of Cover 1 or Cover 3, it makes sense to go weakside because you have more space for the outside receiver (less bodies around) and usually an LB on a RB underneath. 

Adding on to this point, PFF has charted Amendola as being in the slot for 72 of his 76 pass routes, so by definition he's on the (passing) strong side almost every time. If they're going weakside as a game plan, it's not surprise that Amendola isn't seeing many targets.
 

I think that with the OL problems Brady is going through his reads and the first guy that's open gets the ball. Brady has no confidence to go through all his progressions right now then maybe come back to someone else. If 1 is open, the ball is away. If not, look to 2. There's no quick glance at all of them then a decision because Brady has less time.

I don't think the "quick glance at all of them then a decision" is how things work even with a well-functioning OL. If a QB's first read is open, he's supposed to throw it; he's not going to check three other guys to see if someone is "more open." There's timing involved here, too.

 

[Stitch01]

QB Rating is a flawed stat, but as a snap shot
Brady Rating, first number is with 2.5 seconds or under to pass (rank in parenthesis), second is 2.6 seconds or more to pass (rank in Parenthesis).  Ratings are higher overall for the former (shorter passes, first read open, etc)

Brady '14 : 86.6 (26), 75.3 (19)
Brady '13: 98.3 (9), 69.2 (22)
Brady '12: 109 (4), 82.3 (12)
Brady '11: 112.5 (2), 93.4 (7)
 
So the big deterioration in play so far this year hasn't been on the long-developing plays, its been on plays where he isn't in the pocket very long.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

How many passes do other teams 4th options have thrown to them? I'm guessing it may be slightly higher than us based on the Brady-Edelman connection and our offensive line but aside from that how many QB's really target their #4 guy?

 

[Harry Hooper]

I think Tarell Brown did a really good job on Amendola. I don't think it's a coincidence that the one target Amendola got was with rookie T.J. Carrie on him.  
 

 
 
So, is part of this whole equation that teams don't fear Edelman enough (despite his production) to try and force Brady to throw the ball to others?

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

How many passes do other teams 4th options have thrown to them? I'm guessing it may be slightly higher than us based on the Brady-Edelman connection and our offensive line but aside from that how many QB's really target their #4 guy?

 
Why is Amendola the 4th option at all? They didn't pay him that kind of money to be so. They also saw what he could do with a shitbum like Bradford throwing him the ball. Assuming he should be the 4th option makes zero sense.
 
They are wasting a good asset.

 

[Stitch01]

Hard to see how he'd slot in over any of Edelman, Gronk, or Vereen as a top three option from any perspective (pure skill, diversity of attributes, or position).  Making a decision on how to use Amendola based on his contract would be very bad.
 
I agree with whoever posted last week and said that if Edelman got hurt you'd see Amendola catch a lot of passes.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

If they thought that he was no better an option than Edelman, Gronk and Vereen then they made an idiotic decision on his contract. 4th option WRs don't get paid like he does.

 

[Stitch01]

When they signed him they clearly thought he was going to be a bigger part of the offense than Edelman (better phrasing)
 
I mean, yes, given what Edelman has become they definitely shouldn't have signed Amendola to that contract and should have used the money elsewhere, but there's a lot of hindsight in there.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

If they thought that he was no better an option than Edelman, Gronk and Vereen then they made an idiotic decision on his contract. 4th option WRs don't get paid like he does.

Gronk and Vareen have their own roles that don't affect Amendola. It is Edelman making the leap that took Amendola out of our offensive. In the big picture of the team it wouldn't matter if he were getting Edelman's looks and vice versa......Amendola was signed to do essentially what Edelman is excelling at doing right now.

 

[Super Nomario]

 
 
So, is part of this whole equation that teams don't fear Edelman enough (despite his production) to try and force Brady to throw the ball to others?

Maybe. It could be that the Raiders like Brown's play in the slot better than their other CBs and don't want to switch someone else there (though Rogers did play slot CB in SF). Considering Brady was 10 of 11 (per PFF, which discounts throwaways and the like) targeting Edelman, it's easy to argue that Oakland didn't make the right adjustments in this respect.
 
Which is a good time to point out: Brady was 10 of 11 targeting Edelman. He is 22 of 27 targeting him on the season. It's borderline insane to me that folks are suggesting the offense should throw to him *less.*

 

[Ralphwiggum]

If they thought that he was no better an option than Edelman, Gronk and Vereen then they made an idiotic decision on his contract. 4th option WRs don't get paid like he does.

 
Isn't the fact that the contract looks bad now more due to Edelman's development and emergence than anything else?  Had they known that Edelman was going to be what he is today would they have ever signed Amendola to that deal?

 

[lexrageorge]

If they thought that he was no better an option than Edelman, Gronk and Vereen then they made an idiotic decision on his contract. 4th option WRs don't get paid like he does.

At the time they signed Amendola, Edelman had 69 career receptions over 4 seasons.  Vereen had 8 over 2 seasons.  
 
I don't consider it an "idiotic decision".  There's plenty of balls to go around.  I'm not sure it matters at all whether Edelman or Amendola have more catches.  

 

[Dogman]

If they thought that he was no better an option than Edelman, Gronk and Vereen then they made an idiotic decision on his contract. 4th option WRs don't get paid like he does.

 
 
I'm with you SJH.  Amendola should be targeted more because of his contract and Edelman should be the 4th option. Production, OL protection, gameplan all be damned.

 

[JerBear]

Its Barnwell so take it with a grain of salt but...
 

The problem with the Patriots offense isn’t that Tom Brady is force-feeding Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. It’s that Brady doesn’t trust his offensive line to give him enough time to get past his first read. Tom Curran found that Brady never made it past his first read on 30 of his 39 drop-backs against Oakland, and on those nine drop-backs where he did run through his progressions, he was hurried or hit seven times. As Brady’s best receivers, Edelman and Gronkowski have often been his first reads, which is why they’ve gotten the majority of his passes.

 

[mascho]

More precisely, it is Barnwell interpreting Curran's analysis. So big grain of salt. I mean on the first drive of the game Brady threw to LaFell, Vereen and LaFell.  LaFell looked like the primary read on the first play, Vereen out of the backfield might have been read number 1 or 2, and play three was a WR screen to LaFell.  

 

[Super Nomario]

More precisely, it is Barnwell interpreting Curran's analysis. So big grain of salt. I mean on the first drive of the game Brady threw to LaFell, Vereen and LaFell.  LaFell looked like the primary read on the first play, Vereen out of the backfield might have been read number 1 or 2, and play three was a WR screen to LaFell.

I agree, the ball-spreading problems are overblown.

[table Brady targets]Player T C Pct Yds TD PASS ROUTES % Routes Targets Y/A Rob Gronkowski 23 11 47.8% 116 2 66 34.85% 5.04 Kenbrell Thompkins 11 6 54.5% 53 0 50 22.00% 4.82 Julian Edelman 28 22 78.6% 260 1 129 21.71% 9.29 Brandon LaFell 14 4 28.6% 46 0 65 21.54% 3.29 Shane Vereen 15 10 66.7% 52 0 74 20.27% 3.47 Other 16 12 0.75 89 0 123 13.01% 5.56 Danny Amendola 7 3 42.9% 16 0 84 8.33% 2.29 [/table]

Relative to usage, Brady is over-targeting Gronk and under-targeting Amendola. Everyone else is getting targeted about the same (I lumped a bunch of guys with limited PT in the "Other" bucket; they're a little bit less but that group includes guys like Ridley, Develin, and Uh Oh).

 

[Stitch01]

Not based on in depth tape breakdown, but it does seem like the handful of times Brady forces a pass its to Gronk (didn't seem as bad in week 3 as in the previous weeks).  I cant think of a pass to Edelman that was really forced.  Maybe a couple that weren't great decisions for various reasons (the 3rd and 2 longball), but it does seem like Brady is getting Edelman the ball within the confines of the offense and, as the numbers show, very efficiently.

 

[jsinger121]

 

Jeff Howe ‏@jeffphowe  4m4 minutes ago
Danny Amendola admits to @kguregian to having offseason groin surgery http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/patriots_nfl/the_blitz/2014/10/danny_amendola_admits_to_having_off_season_groin_surgery …
 

 

[dcmissle]

If true, that doesn't make his acquisition any better from a decision making standpoint. It simply underscores the primary concern so many of us had when he signed here.

Bottom line -- a chronically injured expensive redundancy.

 

[Silverdude2167]

If true, that doesn't make his acquisition any better from a decision making standpoint. It simply underscores the primary concern so many of us had when he signed here.

Bottom line -- a chronically injured expensive redundancy.

Who was he redundant to when he was signed?

 

[RIrooter09]

Who was he redundant to when he was signed?

 
I assume he's referring to Edelman which is revisionist history.  Nobody could have foreseen him becoming this productive.

 

[dcmissle]

I get it. Julian had not emerged when Welker left. But as of last offseason, he had emerged. So the redundancy was then apparent, and IF BSF's thinking is correct, the injury part had not changed either. Which going into this season, made him what?

I think we're still stuck at 3 for 16 going into game 5.

 

[Silverdude2167]

Didn't it make no sense to cut him due to a cap hit this year?

 

[Stitch01]

Yeah, but don't let facts get in the way of a good rant.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

 
I assume he's referring to Edelman which is revisionist history.  Nobody could have foreseen him becoming this productive.

Not to mention Edelman's own injury history.

 

[( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)]

Wasn't Amendola's injruy last year very well known and understood?  Did people assume that he didn't have surgery as a result?  I don't really see how is news or a revelation.  Guy with significant groin injury that hampers him all season has offseason surgery on his groin.
 
I guess it's kind of news if his play is still affected by the injury or the surgery somehow, but I don't know how you tease that out. 

 

[dcmissle]

Well is there any doubt in your kinds that he will be cut after this year as things stand, and in any way can this be characterized as anything other than a poor signing?

As for the cap hit last year, the figures being thrown about re the cap make it a puzzle palace to me. Sometimes you are better off just moving on, but maybe it would have been cap prohibitive

In any case, this signing coming back to bite us in the ass is not Monday morning QBing if BigSoxFan is correct. A substantial minority here, if not more, did not like the signing from the get, in substantial part for health reasons.

He has not come close to fulfilling the very high promise many had for him. A review of that signing thread is instructive.

He is part of the reason we are where we are.

 

[HomeRunBaker]

Wasn't Amendola's injruy last year very well known and understood?  Did people assume that he didn't have surgery as a result?  I don't really see how is news or a revelation.  Guy with significant groin injury that hampers him all season has offseason surgery on his groin.
 
I guess it's kind of news if his play is still affected by the injury or the surgery somehow, but I don't know how you tease that out. 

It was widely reported last winter that Amendola was avoiding surgery and attempting to heal on his own.

 

[( . ) ( . ) and (_!_)]

It was widely reported last winter that Amendola was avoiding surgery and attempting to heal on his own.

 
aha, well then... mea culpa

 

[Stitch01]

Well is there any doubt in your kinds that he will be cut after this year as things stand, and in any way can this be characterized as anything other than a poor signing?

As for the cap hit last year, the figures being thrown about re the cap make it a puzzle palace to me. Sometimes you are better off just moving on, but maybe it would have been cap prohibitive

In any case, this signing coming back to bite us in the ass is not Monday morning QBing if BigSoxFan is correct. A substantial minority here, if not more, did not like the signing from the get, in substantial part for health reasons.

He has not come close to fulfilling the very high promise many had for him. A review of that signing thread is instructive.

He is part of the reason we are where we are.

He's almost surely getting cut this offseason.  Doesn't make him a redundancy when they signed him without rewriting history.
 
That thread won't be very instructive.  You aren't going to find many posters saying "I think Amendola will play every game in season 2 but just be useless" which is where we are heading.

 

[Super Nomario]

Wasn't Amendola's injruy last year very well known and understood?  Did people assume that he didn't have surgery as a result?  I don't really see how is news or a revelation.  Guy with significant groin injury that hampers him all season has offseason surgery on his groin.
 
I guess it's kind of news if his play is still affected by the injury or the surgery somehow, but I don't know how you tease that out.

The reports were at the time that doctors often treat groin injuries by cutting the adductor muscle, but Amendola had a complete tear so surgery was unnecessary. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--patriots--danny-amendola-has-complete-muscle-tear-in-groin-but-recovering-at-fast-pace-211510361.html
 
I guess that means either it didn't heal right, or something else was going on (sports hernia?), or maybe the doctors this Yahoo reporter asked were just wrong.
 

Well is there any doubt in your kinds that he will be cut after this year as things stand, and in any way can this be characterized as anything other than a poor signing?

Can't argue with this. The Pats' record in FA in recent years is atrocious to say the least.
 

 As for the cap hit last year, the figures being thrown about re the cap make it a puzzle palace to me. Sometimes you are better off just moving on, but maybe it would have been cap prohibitive

For this year, at least, he serves a significant role as Edelman's backup. Last year they had to drag Austin Collie out of retirement because they didn't have enough guys who can play the slot role, and with Boyce and Gallon being cut Amendola figures to benefit in terms of targets and snaps if anything happened to Edelman. He's overpaid for that, and as you say almost certainly gone in the offseason.