Considering how much the Dark Lord Belichick likes to shroud his team in mystery, it’s no surprise that the vote on a tremendous eight-game stretch (including playoffs) that saw him catch 69 balls for 729 yards and five touchdowns.

Don’t think that the Patriots front office didn’t take notice of that, as they locked him down to a four-year contract during the offseason. Considering his strong showing in the preseason and the unhealthiness and unimpressiveness of the receivers around him, it’s safe to say that Edelman is locked in as the top wide receiver on a team that has notched up a good amount of points at the position over the past few years.

Now, I don’t mean to suggest that Edelman is going to put up eye-popping numbers. That’s not his role in the offense - he’s a move-the-chains player, first and foremost. And although his fantasy numbers were ultimately solid, his feel free to check out our glossary.

Below is Edelman’s NEP compared to that of Brady’s previous favorite binky, the recently-suspended has only played with New England’s first-team offense for 59% of the snaps in the preseason, which pales in comparison to Edelman’s 95%.

Gronk could be a different matter, however, as Edelman did average four fewer targets with Gronk in the lineup as opposed to without. Edelman also doesn’t quite have the speed to turn his receptions into big-gainers (hence his 10.1 yards per catch), and has a lackluster reception-to-touchdown ratio (as he has only scored on 10 of his 174 career receptions), so he doesn’t possess the same threat of going off in any one game that players with similar average draft positions like 21st wide receiver in our rankings. We also have him projected for 9.35 fantasy points in Week 1.