Re: Credible Twitter source: Pats to shop Welker
Might as well take you all on at once :lol2:
Why would you assume that formation? We use it, sure, but it seems kinda foolish to get rid of your ability to effectively use formations other than that.
Because (assuming I didn't screw up my math) the Patriots only averaged 2.14 WRs per play. That, of course, includes the many plays where there were TEs and HBs like up as WRs and Welker was still in the slot, but I'll get to that in a little bit...
Gronk is not "pretty good" at making immediate, slashing cuts within 5 yards, and even "pretty good" is nowhere near "just as good" when it comes to comparing him to Welker. Gronk fills a completely different role, for goodness sakes. The Hernandez claim was bad enough, but now it's Gronkowski?
Seriously, what are some of you thinking with these claims?
It doesn't have to be an "immediate, slashing cut." Getting open in the middle of the field is getting open in the middle of the field. Gronk has shown (the boxing out of Urlacher on the one play comes to mind) that he has the ability to get open in the middle of the field. And even then, do you deny that a linebacker or safety on Hernandez is as big of a mismatch as a cornerback on Welker is? This isn't a "quickness and ability to get open" contest in a vacuum, it's a "quickness and ability to get open" contest relative to the defender who is guarding him.
I think there are a handful or less of receivers with WWs skills, quickness and ability at reading coverage.
Our TEs do not fall into that category.
You can have a 2TE set AND line WW in the slot. Pats did it quite frequently this year.
Yeah, they kinda had to. I wish I could compare numbers of Welker in the slot to Welker when he was the outside receiver. I'm betting that way more of his production came when he was not the outside receiver. He has the quickness and ability to read coverage, but lacks things like height and speed, things that would've been incredibly useful against the Jets. The ideal WR for replacing Welker as a starter would be what I saw somebody on here refer to as "Branch Plus." Basically, all of Branch's route-running skills and quickness, but in a taller, faster WR that is better at getting open deep.
The way I see it, Welker is a great slot WR and a good outside WR. With the 2 TE packages although the TE aren't comparable to Welker, they push him to an outside WR. For the money Welker would cost we're probably better getting a bigger outside WR and using Edelman in the slot role which is more limited than it was under McDaniels.
And I said this in a thread the day after the season, not just because of this rumor.
Exactly. Personally, I'm willing to take the downgrade from Welker to Edelman in the slot if it means upgrading from Welker to, let's say Julio Jones (or whichever tall, fast free agent/draft WR you like). I also remember somebody mentioning that Edelman isn't as durable as Welker, and you addressed that as well. Edelman wouldn't have to do those dangerous over-the-middle catches nearly as often as Welker did during his 100+ catch seasons. He'd be getting more like 50 catches on the high end (as a 5th receiving option after New WR, Branch, Gronk, and Hernandez), and therefore get tackled half as many times and get hit hard about half as much. He's not the most durable fella, but I think he could easily handle 40% of the offensive plays plus punt returns.
