midwestpatsfan

We all know that all the WR's currently on the roster may not make the team. So why so many? That is the easy part. There is no way that Belichick will allow himself or his team to get into a situation like thay did last year. It was nice to see Caldwell play as well as he did, and Gaffney's performance in the playoffs came out of nowhere, but lets be honest, those 2 guys as a the teams top recievers will not cut it. So what do the Patriots do, they sign 3 WR's to fight it out to see who gets on the playing field rather that have the teams hand forced as to will be on the field.

The contracts for Caldwell, Gaffney, Stallworth, and Washington all could potentially be over after this year. That essentially means they are all playing for that next contract.

Now Brady will have an entire offseason to continue his relationship with Gaffney and Caldwell and to start new ones with Welker, Stallworth and Washington. Over time, both Brady and Belichick will have a good feel of who they feel comfortable with out on the field. This should help make the passing game more effective and make defenses open up a little bit and in turn help the running game become more effective.

I look for the offense to be really effective this year, and Brady will be as happy as he has ever been.

ayjackson

Well stated, so well so, it deserved it's own thread.

RichmondPatsfan

I agree with this posting. I do not care about the contracts or personal issues, we have improved our WR corps significantly.

BradyManny

I can actually see all 5 of these guys, Stallworth, Welker, Caldwell, Gaffney, Washington making the team. Obviously they're not going to cut Chad Jackson, so hypothetically, he gets PUP'd if he's not healthy enough to start the season. I see no reason with carrying 6.

Like I said in another thread, unfortunately this would seem to leave Troy Brown out, which isn't something I'm happy about, but it's too early to predict what truly is going to happen.

I think the beauty of what they've done in the wideout position is that all of these guys have specific things to offer. And in terms of depth, they've really covered their bases their as well

homerpatsfan

lets take it one season at a time. one superbowl at a time.got a great start hopefully no real setbacks! and we are on our way.


IN BILL WE TRUST

signbabybrady

I was saying throw a bunch of WR against the wall and see who sticks to my father about 10 seconds before I saw this thread. I think if that is the plan than Troy should come back because he could still beat out Washington and maybe one or two others.

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pats60

Competion is different this year.
Anybody who could look like a reciever made the team last year.

Fencer

I expect them all to make the 2007 roster, IR aside, although nobody would be shocked if one or the other flames out.

The real question is 2008, since as noted four of them are in their contract years. In particular, Washington hasn't had the kind of production in the past that makes him a good bet to justify the option part of the contract going forward ... but hey, Pioli doesn't have anything much better to do than negotiate complex, probably meaningless contracts with one of his more important FAs. The chance that it indeed turns out meaningful more than justifies the effort ...