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Reiss' Take On Stallworth:

March 07, 2007
Stallworth analysis
ANALYSIS

The Patriots hosted receiver Donte' Stallworth at Gillette Stadium on Tuesday, and here is how we see the situation playing out:

From the Patriots' perspective, Stallworth represents a low-risk, high-reward type of signing in the form of a one-year, incentive-filled deal. We don't see the Patriots going long-term with Stallworth based on his injury history, among other things.

The question is whether Stallworth, who entered free agency thinking big bucks but has initially experienced a lukewarm market, wants to go that route.

As of now, the market for Stallworth includes the Eagles, Patriots, Titans and Dolphins.

From the Patriots' side, they have one asset that the other clubs don't have -- quarterback Tom Brady. That is something the team can sell Stallworth, that catching passes from Brady can help revive his market value (in 2008) more so than catching passes from Donovan McNabb (Eagles), Vince Young (Titans) or Daunte Culpepper (Dolphins).

So if Stallworth is willing to take a short-term, one-year type of deal, the Patriots are in a solid spot. But if he's looking for more of a long-term commitment, he'll probably wind up elsewhere.

One other factor to consider is the Tennessee angle, as Stallworth played his college ball at Tennessee. The Titans lost Drew Bennett in free agency and they might counter that departure with a Stallworth acquisition that would create somewhat of a buzz in Tennessee.

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MARQUISE HILL
1982-2007
RIP

spacecrime

You can have all the doubts you want. If your opinion is that Stallworth is not a good addition, that's fine.

Most of us do not see him as an average receiver. In the pre-march 1 FA lists, he was the top WR available, in the top ten FAs available overall.

It sounds like you also believe he is the top WR available, but you prefer to go after a lesser WR.

However, I think if you compare him to the rest of the NFL, compare the stats of all WRs, you will find him pretty high up there.

Big Bucks

Thats the thing isn't it, 6 years @ $32m....IMO he has yet to show me why he is worth those figures, hell Phillidelphia obviously as of yet don't and they arguably have a bigger probelm at WR.
Although others and I'm not suggesting those in this thread are, more the one line brigade cream themselves over this WR, I think I'll sit back and judge him later if he signs.

Sean Pa Patriot

The more I think about it , the 6 yr 32 mill thing was floated around by his agent... I bet we did not offer him those numbers, its more of the idea's to float around to Miami or Tenn...

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We going to take it one game at a time

Big Bucks

Maybe I should requote myself
I see him as along the lines of Morris, Brady and Welker, all good additions to a quality roster

Then as I suggest people are way overating this group of FA WR's.


I didn't say anything about going for a lesser WR, I'm fine with Stallworth, but not enamoured as many seem to be on here.


That is the point, I do not think he is, I think he will be low 20's at best

On further research looking at the NFL stats for last year, he didn't make the...

top 30 for yds

http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL...S/2006/regular

or top 30 for receptions

http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL/REC/2006/regular

or top 30 TD's

http://www.nfl.com/stats/leaders/NFL...S/2006/regular

Big Bucks

This worries me tons, not one mention of the fact that Stallworth spent the whole of last year with the Eagles, knows the play book, knows the other players, seemed to have a decent rapport with McNabb who will be back(would not have let Garcia go IMO)

Name me the Titans WR's........anybody!

Dolphins will want payback for Welker, IMO they will up the bid just because and are our Div rival

I'd say the things I point out are very big issues that need to be overcome for him to come to foxboro. I can see these teams not going the 1 year deal.

zippo59

I'm willing to bet that if Stallworth came here he would be better than Branch.

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Unofficial Kevin Faulk supporter.

naclone

because branch wasn't a free agent last year.

JoeSixPat

There's no need to look him as a #1WR. There's hardly a need to even assign a number to ANY Patriot WR.

And looking at Stallworth's overall numbers or comparing them to "top" WRs in the league too misses the point that we are most interested in Stallworth to play a significant ROLE.

Specifically the role of a deep field threat.

Last season with our "deep" threat WR averaging 13 yards a catch, defenses were able to move up signfiicantly, use their safeties to blitz, stop the run, or double cover our main receivers Watson and Caldwell. This caused major pressure on Brady,and limited production from our runing and passing game.

Last season Stallworth - specifically playing the role of deep threat for Philly, averaged 19 yards per catch. Of course that's an average - so to be on the safe side you can count on the fact that safeties will have no choice but to position themselves much more than 6 yards further back... but even if it were "just" 6 yards that would make a meaningful difference to our team.

Stallworth attained that average of course by bringing in a number of big plays and THAT'S what secondaries will be concerned about preventing - pushing them even deeper down the field

Most importantly one doesn't need a deep threat WR who will catch 80 passes a season to achieve the desired impact. Like Stallworth, two big catches made a game, along with the threat of several more, is more than enough to keep a defense "honest" and avoid the pressures placed on our offense last season.

So if you are looking to prove that Stallworth's numbers don't stack up to the "top" receivers in the league in numbers or total yardage - congratulations, you've done so succesfully - but you've fully missed the point of why the Patriots are so interested in Stallworth (and apparently Randy Moss)

The role for Stallworth is not to catch 80 passes or rack up 1200 yards - it's to do exactly what he did in Philly. 40 passes & 800 yards would be a MAJOR difference maker here, not just for those yards and catches alone, but also in what it does to help our TEs, other WRs, RBs, as well as preventing safeties from having a 15 yard head start on hitting Brady.

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patsfan13

I only care about whether he help our O not whether he is better than player A on Team X. IMO he will make our O better. He had an impact on the Philly O (more when McNAbb was QB than with Garcia). HE is a young guy with a lot of talent, who can improve this team.

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"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."