Aaron Dobson is one of the young New England Patriots wide receivers that were forced to learn the NFL game quickly. The rookie was thrown into the spotlight after injuries to Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez were no longer on the field. While he still has a long ways to go, teammates are praising Dobson's improvement through eight weeks this season.
"When he first came in," cornerback Alfonzo Dennard said, via the Boston Herald. "We were going at it (in practice), and he made a one-hand catch on me. I was like, 'This guy, he's for real.' I knew then he would be a special person for this team."
Dobson is for real. He suffered from rookie mistakes to start the year, but over the past three weeks the second-round draft pick has proven to be a very reliable target for Tom Brady on the field. Through eight games, he leads the Patriots with 157 yards off 13 catches. Those numbers are not that eye popping, but considering how the Patriots' pass game has looked, they are impressive.
"I just feel like overall, I'm more comfortable in the system," Dobson said. "I've still got a long way to go to get to where I want to be at - to be great."
Dobson credits a lot of success to film study, not just of his opponents, but of older receivers in the game. Dobson admits to watching a lot of highlights of receivers like Larry Fitzgeral, Deion Branch and even Wes Welker.
"We do watch our old receivers just to learn to see how they ran the routes," Dobson said. "It might be a new play, a new concept that we've got so we'll go back and see how they ran them a lot."
That studying is certainly paying off as Bill Belichick is praising the rookie's ability to run correct routes and be aware of where the ball is. Against the Miami Dolphins, Dobson put up 60 yards off four catches and one touchdown. His game was highlighted by perfect stop-and-go routes along with a nice 20-yard sideline catch over cornerback Dimitri Patterson.
Dobson has been active on 75.3 percent of the Patriots offensive plays this season. That makes his the leading player in any offensive skill position for the team. That is only going to increase going forward as Brady builds his trust in the receiver.
