Guregian: Welker "doing very well," but unlikely to start regular season

[pats1]

Wes Welker recovering well - BostonHerald.com

 

[PatsChamp88]

Saw this, great news no infection

 

[BelichickFan]

The way I read that, his "doing very well" was a medical statement, his being an "unrealistic proposition" for the start of the season was merely Karen's opinion which I disagree with. It would take a perfect rehab with no setbacks but Braylon Edwards and Deion Branch's returns show a Week 1 return as realistic, though optimistic.

 

[RobertWeathers]

His GF is 2005 Miss Hooters. Not sure if its possible NOT to do well.

All kidding aside, good news nonetheless.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Unlikely to start the season....


This falls into the 'no duh' catagory of professional journalism

December 1st seems more of a realistic expectation for his return

 

[Sean Pa Patriot]

Unlikely to start the season....


This falls into the 'no duh' catagory of professional journalism

December 1st seems more of a realistic expectation for his return

Well some people , including some in here, thought Welker will be ready by week 1 and everything is all hunky dory... And now with David Patten , with him Brandon Tate , Edleman, Moss, and Aiken , we dont need help at WR... WR needs to be a focus...

 

[BelichickFan]

Unlikely to start the season....

This falls into the 'no duh' catagory of professional journalism

December 1st seems more of a realistic expectation for his return

Unless I missed it, Karen did not say "unlikely to start the season" but said it was unrealistic. Which I disagree with. He's about a month behind where Braylon Edwards was when he had his ACL team and Edwards was back for the first preseason game. In fact they had their surgeries exactly a month apart, Edwards on 1/3 of his year, Welker on 2/3 of his.

You can make the argument that Edwards is more of a straight line runner, OTOH you can also make the argument that ACL rehabs are more effective now, 4 years later than Edwards did his. But the fact remains that it's realistic, though optimistic, for Welker to be back Week 1.

 

[BelichickFan]

Well some people , including some in here, thought Welker will be ready by week 1 and everything is all hunky dory... And now with David Patten , with him Brandon Tate , Edleman, Moss, and Aiken , we dont need help at WR... WR needs to be a focus...

Moss
Welker
Tate
Edelman
Patten

That's 5. We could go with 6, Patten isn't a lock and Welker may be PUPed. But depending how they feel about Tate and Patten - and none of us really know how much Patten has left or how happy they are with Tate's knowledge of the game, etc, the WR group could be fairly full with at most one open spot.

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Welker's only slightly more likely to start the season than I am. Either way we aren't even at powerball odds yet (powerball being more likely).

It's great to hear he's doing well and I still consider him a scratch for next year. Welker earns his $'s living on the side to side cut and will need those ligamewnts strong. A WR with a straight run style might be able to make a reasonable comeback mid-to-late season. Hopefully Edelman will make that leap and another year will have him more in line with Brady.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Unless I missed it, Karen did not say "unlikely to start the season" but said it was unrealistic. Which I disagree with. He's about a month behind where Braylon Edwards was when he had his ACL team and Edwards was back for the first preseason game. In fact they had their surgeries exactly a month apart, Edwards on 1/3 of his year, Welker on 2/3 of his.

You can make the argument that Edwards is more of a straight line runner, OTOH you can also make the argument that ACL rehabs are more effective now, 4 years later than Edwards did his. But the fact remains that it's realistic, though optimistic, for Welker to be back Week 1.

FWIW in Jan of 08, Deion Branch blew out his ACL. He was back in late Oct of 08. He was ok- not great. Would a 75% WW be a benefit to the offense? He sure would.

It can happen as long as post-op complications and set-backs w/ the rehab don't crop up.

 

[BelichickFan]

FWIW in Jan of 08, Deion Branch blew out his ACL. He was back in late Oct of 08. He was ok- not great. Would a 75% WW be a benefit to the offense? He sure would.

I can't find the exact date of his surgery, he got hurt a few weeks later than Welker but may have caught up if he didn't have to wait for his MCL to heal, I can't find the exact date. Regardless, Branch's YPC were exactly in lien in the half season after he returned as they were before he got hurt. He didn't make an impact after his return IMO because he wasn't an impact WR. He bottomed out this year with the rest of the crappy Seahawk offense.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I can't find the exact date of his surgery, he got hurt a few weeks later than Welker but may have caught up if he didn't have to wait for his MCL to heal, I can't find the exact date. Regardless, Branch's YPC were exactly in lien in the half season after he returned as they were before he got hurt. He didn't make an impact after his return IMO because he wasn't an impact WR. He bottomed out this year with the rest of the crappy Seahawk offense.

If we do the timeline its pretty close.

Date of Injury/Welker- 1/3/2010
Date of Surgery/Welker- 2/2/2010

Date of Injury/Branch-1/12/08
Date of Surgery/Branch-Assumed mid-Feb '08. Took out from this article:

Seahawks | Notebook | Seahawks' Deion Branch nearing end of long comeback trail | Seattle Times Newspaper

He had surgery a few weeks later and the original timeline for his recovery was nine months. Sunday, it will be seven months since the surgery, and it seemed that Branch was on track for an earlier comeback, perhaps as soon as this week.

MCLs can be 4-6 weeks. so it seems they are on pretty similar paths.

Heres it to hoping!

 

[The Dynasty]

Moss
Welker
Tate
Edelman
Patten

That's 5. We could go with 6, Patten isn't a lock and Welker may be PUPed. But depending how they feel about Tate and Patten - and none of us really know how much Patten has left or how happy they are with Tate's knowledge of the game, etc, the WR group could be fairly full with at most one open spot.

You cannot count Welker in that group for week 1, so you have Moss, Tate, Edelman, Aiken and Patten. That group is well below average. We still need to go out and get a big name WR, not an old veteran who is way past his prime like Patten

 

[BelichickFan]

You cannot count Welker in that group for week 1, so you have Moss, Tate, Edelman, Aiken and Patten. That group is well below average. We still need to go out and get a big name WR, not an old veteran who is way past his prime like Patten

If they think the real Welker will be back by, say, November then there's no overiding reason for a "big name" WR. A rookie with good upside perhaps if they think Moss is gone after this year.

 

[emoney_33]

If they think the real Welker will be back by, say, November then there's no overiding reason for a "big name" WR. A rookie with good upside perhaps if they think Moss is gone after this year.

It's not that simple regarding Welker. It's incredibly hard to effectively put a probability number on the timeline of Welker's return along with his effectiveness. At this point in time, there's a large risk if you put a lot of eggs into the Welker basket.

We also have no idea of what their expectations (or even what fair expectations would be) for Tate is at this point.

Currently there is a lot of risk in the WR corps, and I think we really need to sign at least one really good (doesn't have to be great top-5 or 10) sure thing at WR. There has to be at least one sure bet to help take pressure off Moss and make teams PAY for double and triple teaming him.

 

[BelichickFan]

It's not that simple regarding Welker. It's incredibly hard to effectively put a probability number on the timeline of Welker's return along with his effectiveness. At this point in time, there's a large risk if you put a lot of eggs into the Welker basket.

I know but we also can't spend too many resources on WR when the team has a good number of other needs.

 

[The Dynasty]

If they think the real Welker will be back by, say, November then there's no overiding reason for a "big name" WR. A rookie with good upside perhaps if they think Moss is gone after this year.

I disagree. Even if like you say that Welker will be back in November there is still a great need at the WR position. We definitely needed a 3rd WR this past season and David Patten isnt the answer. I am not saying we need to go out and get a Boldin or Marshall type big name, but a reliable producing WR is what we really need. With Welker's uncertain health the need at WR stands out even more.

 

[woolster22]

How is this news? I understand reporting that he is doing well, but did anyone really expect him to be back for week one? I'd be pleasantly surprised if he was back halfway through the season. and who knows how he will respond. I highly doubt he will be as quick, but how much will he lose? Will he be back at 90% his former self, or 75%? He wasn't overly quick to begin. I am not sure he can overcome much of a drop in athletic ability. However, if anyone is going to be able to do it, it would be the White Wes Welker.

 

[DaBronxPats14]

This guy is a Warrior. Don't expect anything less from WW on boucing back early beginning of reg season. Question was at the time how was Brady going to come back off his year long injury. What people took for granted was his knee wasn't a thought we quickly put it aside when he had finger, shoulder,ribs focused on. Sure Brady had his ups & downs this season rightfully so but his numbers were awesome as usual. I can see WW right back to his old double digit catches knowing how he prepares for a game.

 

[signbabybrady]

Well some people , including some in here, thought Welker will be ready by week 1 and everything is all hunky dory... And now with David Patten , with him Brandon Tate , Edleman, Moss, and Aiken , we dont need help at WR... WR needs to be a focus...

I don't think Welker will be ready for week one but I also don't think WR is a huge need for this team. They have been going at it for a few years with two of the best in the game and this has skewed our reality a bit.

We still have one of the best in the game in Moss and at some point during the year we will get the other back (at what percentage remains to be seen).
Past that we have one player in Edelman who looks to be a good slot reciever (and still improving) and IMO that is 3 guys who make this not a focus point.
We also have a player in Tate returning to the field who we thought enough of to draft despite a major knee injury.
Than just in case when we get to TC we realize we likely will get nothing out of Welker or Tate this year we brought in someone who has a report with Brady and this system in Patten.
Clearly there are too many question marks to go into TC with just these guys but what we really need is one player who we truly have faith (no health issues and we feel is smart enough to pick up the system) will be able to be a number 2 or 3 receiver. This could be a FA or a Draft pick or both but when I hear the phrase "needs to be a focus" I think of the 07 season when we really did have a need and we filled it by trading for Moss and Welker. By no means does this team "need" a haul like that. We need a complimentary reciever we can rely on being in the line up because 2 of our WRs cant be relyed on because of health.