CINCINNATI -- One year after posting the best numbers of his career, Brandon LaFell put together some of his worst in a 2015 season that was as individually challenging as any he had been through.
Foot surgery late last offseason had the receiver hobbled entering his second season with the New England Patriots. And although the foot had gotten just healthy enough for him to play, he still had a tough time getting back to doing everything that made him the standout he was in the Patriots' 2014 passing offense, the season they last won the Super Bowl.
Cut a month ago by New England, LaFell just signed Thursday with the Cincinnati Bengals. Right away he vowed to prove to Bengals fans that last season was an aberration.
"I want to get back on the right foot," LaFell said. "Going out there healthy, clean start. I just want to get back at playing at a high level, and watching how I played last year definitely motivates me to work hard this offseason because I know what I put on film last year wasn't me at full strength."
LaFell had just 37 catches for only 515 yards in 11 games last season. For the first time in his pro career, he went through a season without getting in the end zone. To go along with his zero touchdowns, LaFell had a career-high six drops.
The prior year, he had career highs in catches (74), yards (953), first downs (50) and touchdowns (seven). A six-catch, 119-yard showing in a Patriots loss to Kansas City early that season boosted the trust quarterback Tom Brady had for him. And although LaFell was held to just one 20-yard catch the following week by the Bengals' defense, he started rattling off a string of solid games as New England's No. 2 wideout after that.
While the Bengals aren't looking for LaFell to have games like the 11-catch, 124-yard showcase he put on in a 2014 win over the Bears, they certainly wouldn't be angry if he did.
When he visited Cincinnati last week, LaFell was told by first-year offensive coordinator Ken Zampese that his role would be rather limited in this offense. That didn't bother LaFell one bit. He was rightfully told that in this scheme, "A.J. [Green] is the guy, and Tyler [Eifert] is also the guy."
As for the foot, LaFell contends it's fully healthy at this point. He anticipates having a full offseason to get his foot and entire body conditioned will help this season. It also will help having as much time as possible to get acclimated with Andy Dalton's style of quarterbacking.
"My foot is actually feeling pretty much back to normal now," LaFell said. "I got some time off after the season to take some time to get off of it to let it heal and let it recover. Now that my foot is pretty good, I'm back to running, jumping and doing everything I normally do in the offseason. So I feel real good about this offseason and getting back into the groove of things."