I've been ignoring this one for a while. Some thoughts:
1) I don't agree with the premise that the easiest way to upgrade this team is to provide WR help. The easiest way to improve the Pats is to get off the field on 3rd down. Pass rush, pass rush, and pass rush. That being said, we don't have 3 NFL caliber, healthy WRs on the team now, so we have to get some.
2) In concert with the above, I don't agree that New Orleans won the Super Bowl on the strength of their passing attack, good as it is. New Orleans took that final step up when Gregg Williams came over to run their defense. Holding the Colts to 17 points while scoring 7 of your own wins that game, as well as winning in Minnesota when they had something like a -4 turnover differential.
3) Watching football, I think Benn is clearly the best WR in the NCAA. I thought he was the best in the NCAA last year, and I'd put him up against anybody coming out next year too. However, he's certainly not fail-safe. The offense he played in makes it hard to project how good he can be in a Pro-Style offense. This is where Tate closes the gap. If I were GM, I'd really need to sit down and watch tape with him and work him out before I felt comfortable spending a high pick on him.
4) In concert with the above, let's stop blasting Belichick for drafting Johnson and Jackson in the second round. Johnson was drafted that highly because he was an elite kick-returner, and had extremely high upside. We got 3 or 4 years of fantastic field position when he was returning kicks for us. Belichick didn't misread Jackson's talent. Jackson is talented enough to have started for us last year opposite Moss. Jackson's poor work ethic and lousy attitude is why he can't hold onto a job for very long. He seems to be one of those guys who thinks football owes him something. Several teams, including Pittsburgh, removed him entirely from their board. In all liklihood, Urban Meyer told Belichick those things were overblown, and Jackson aced the film and playbook parts of his interviews. Belichick's mistake was to perhaps see in Jackson what he wanted to see in Jackson, and trusting his pal Meyer.
5) Shawn Jefferson is coaching the Lions' WRs? Good for him. Class guy, and perfect #2 guy when he was here.
6) As for binkies, Andre Roberts and Taylor Price look to be great value on Day 3. I love Gilyard on his return abilities alone, and from a purely on-field assessment, Mike Williams is a top 3 WR in this class. I would take a flyer on him somewhere around round 5 and see if we can't get a steal. If his immaturity flares up, minimal investment lost, but if his attitude problems can be corrected, the bang-for-buck is off the charts.
