Patriots beat writer Jeff Howe:
I don’t know for certain if Brandon LaFell is playing Sunday, but every sign points toward him being ready. I don’t know how much he’ll contribute, though. After all, he practiced this week for the first time since the Super Bowl, so from a conditioning standpoint alone, he’ll be on a seriously limited snap count. And remember last season when LaFell only caught four of his first 14 targets through three weeks. Obviously, he has a lot more experience in the system, but the slow start should be a concern for those reasons.
As Howe mentions, LaFell is likely to be very limited even if he does play, so owners shouldn't expect much this week. However, no one has really grabbed the WR2 role and LaFell played very well last season. He finished as the #22 WR in both standard and PPR formats, but didn’t catch a single pass in the first two games. He began to see starter-type snaps in Week 4, and was the #15 receiver in standard formats (#14 in PPR) over the final 13 games of the season. In fact, counting the postseason, LaFell racked up 87-1072-9 in his last 16 games. That would have been good enough for a #13 finish in both formats.
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