The Patriots try to go the "cheap, veteran" receiver every year and it RARELY works out. They don't want to spend the $ on a big time, big play FREE AGENT receiver, so we SEASON TICKET holder fans are left with guys like Joey Galloway, Sam Aiken, Torry Holt, Donte Stallworth, Kelly Washington, Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, Tim Dwight, David Terrell, Dedric Ward, Donald Hayes, Tim Dwight, David Patten, Aaron Bailey...wow, what a list of stalwarts there. Of these guys, and I count fifteen (and this comes right from the Patriots web site), I say four were even MILDLY successful pass catchers - Patten, Stallworth, Caldwell, and Gaffney - the other guys were camp fodder and turned into fifth receivers/special teams guys - yay! And, it's not like this team had great receivers all those years, so these guys couldn't even break out in an average NFL receiving corps most years.
It comes down to these guys (Belichick, scouts, etc.) cannot evaluate wide receivers - see all these failed free agent signings and wasted draft picks (Brandon Tate, Julian Edelman, Matthew Slater, Chad Jackson, PK Sam, Bethel Johnson). They got Branch and Givens in 02, which was quite a haul, but of the 8 receivers they've drafted since Belichick has been in charge, only two have made considerable contributions. I'm not including Taylor Price because he barely played last season.
Perhaps, and I really think this is more like it - Belichick does not "VALUE" the position. He comes from a tradition of having guys like Webster Slaughter, Michael Jackon, Mark Carrier, Derrick Alexander, and Keenan McCardell as his top pass catching wideouts in Cleveland.
So, out of TWENTY FOUR free agent/draft wide receivers SIX have been effective RECEIVERS for the Patriots - that's a 25% success rate. I don't know how that compares to the rest of the league, but a supposed genius should have better than a 1/4 hit ratio...