FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- WE MAY NEVER KNOW when Wes Welker would’ve actually appeared in Sunday’s game had Aaron Hernandez’s ankle not been trapped between a teammate and the Gillette Stadium turf as he attempted to hold his block in the first quarter of the home opener.

To that point the receiver with more catches than anyone in the NFL over the past five seasons, and now more grabs than anyone in Patriots history, was relegated to the sideline. For the first three plays, which encompassed the start of two series, that’s where he stood. His helmet was buckled, his cleats were tied, his gloves were on — but New England hadn’t needed him.

Then football intervened.

Oh, right. Football.

When Julian Edelman wearned the start ahead of Welker, in the wake of a Week 1 contest in which those players appeared to be part of a rotation at one of the team’s receiver positions, the conspiracy theorists perked up.

Some hypothesized that failed negotiations on a long-term contract have left bad blood. Some alleged the Patriots are trying to prove that Welker isn’t worth what he thinks he is. Some said they’re phasing him out of the offense. Some implied his diminished role is disciplinary. Some went so far as to tie all the aforementioned together to reach the conclusion that he could be released or traded, a la Randy Moss.

But what if it’s simply about football?

It’s admittedly a hard concept to understand on the surface, considering what Welker did between the lines in 2011, when he led the league with 122 catches and the conference with 1,569 receiving yards. But a big part of sustaining success in the NFL is a team’s ability to stay a step ahead — and even beyond those gaudy numbers there are reasons to believe that’s simply what the Patriots are trying to do here.

There are reasons that are purely competitive, aware of the big picture in terms of both scheme and team-building, and have nothing to do with Welker being suddenly washed up or the coaches suddenly trying him to wash him out of their offense.

Last year, Welker’s average gain per catch got smaller with each passing month, shrinking from 14.8 yards in September down to 11 in December (and 8.5 in the single game of January). He had 970 receiving yards in the first half of the year, followed by 599 in the second. Then he didn’t break 60 receiving yards in any of New England’s three postseason games. He’s 31, he’s 5-foot-9, and he’s taken his share of licks through the years.

It could be that the Patriots want to make sure he’s still fresh later in the season, especially with the expectation that will include the playoffs.

Also a year ago, Deion Branch was targeted an average of just six times per game as New England’s outside receiver, and Chad Ochocinco was a nonfactor. Since then, Brandon Lloyd has joined the mix and his team-high 21 targets suggest the Patriots are consciously trying to stretch the defense horizontally, while Welker has been targeted 16 times in two games, down roughly three per tilt from 2011. It could be that the Patriots want to make defenses respect the flanks early with hope that it’ll open the middle of the field for their slot receivers and tight ends later in the year — and, naturally, if there’s a increase in balls thrown to that position, there naturally must be a corresponding decrease somewhere else.

Then there are the assets of Edelman. He entered this season as the franchise’s all-time leader in average yardage per punt return. He played some defensive back last year, and proved himself both tough and unafraid of contact. He’s 26, and his legs have never been subject to regular snaps of a full NFL season.

It could be that the Patriots want to give Edelman a chance to play with the ball in his hands more often, especially if his experience on the other side of scrimmage has led them to believe he’s a better blocker than Welker in the slot, and that his body has a lesser chance of breaking down.

If financial considerations do play into this at all, it may be as much because of Edelman’s impending free agency as Welker’s. Here is a receiver who caught 37 passes as a converted-from-college-quarterback rookie, and who finished that campaign by catching a pair of touchdown passes in the playoff game Welker missed with a torn ACL, then proceeded to total just 11 grabs over the next two seasons.

Now — like Welker — his contract is expiring, and having already committed megabucks to Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski and Hernandez, the Patriots need to determine if investing big money in Welker is a wise move — or if they’re better off letting him go in favor of a similarly shifty player who’s five years younger, would come significantly cheaper and has much less wear on his body.

It could be that they’re intrigued by what Edelman did when given a true opportunity offensively, and want to determine whether those promising signs are an indication of the player they expect him to be.

It may be a while before anybody outside of the inner circle really knows what’s going on, particularly now that Hernandez will miss time with what is unofficially being called a high ankle sprain. If the Patriots did want to preserve Welker, or feature others to open the field, or get a sense of what life might be like without him, that’ll be much more difficult now that they’re forced to fill the hole left by Hernandez. We may never know what the grand plan was, now that football has intervened.

Oh, right. Football.

We’ve always been led to believe it’s the first priority in Foxborough. And there are plenty of reasons to think it remains true in this case, too.

Dave D’Onofrio covers the Patriots for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is ddonof13@gmail.com.