Geeze, you know, you're completely right.... like you said, there's no guarantees about free agency
And now that the NFL has banned all trades that just leaves no other option beside the draft (and as we all know rookie WRs usually take time to develop even if some fans want to give up on a player after less than one season)
My only lament is that you weren't posting here in 2001 & 2002. At that time we had a GREAT #1 WR named Troy Brown who was averaging nearly 100 passes a season.
Since we already had a #1 WR at that time you maybe could have stopped those numskulls in the front office from keeping Branch and Givens and worse yet, even giving Derrick Mason the most lucrative offer of any team. Clearly, looking at Troy's numbers anyone who was following the team knew there was no need to bring in other WRs.
What the hell were they thinking, actually offering a #1 WR free agent a fair market value deal????? These guys don't know WHAT they are doing clearly. Thank God Mason turned down that offer.
No... I recant my "too soon to say" opinion here. No other WRs will be brought in to compete. Caldwell's the #1. We won't make the same mistake we did by not giving Troy the #1 WR job.
So you want to compare '06 to '01 then. Fine, let's give it a try.
First, wtf does Derrick Mason have to do with things? He was on the market after the '04 season, so you're already off on the wrong foot here.
Ok, back to '01. We can agree the team had issues at WR. After the season they added two low level FAs, Patten and Hayes. they drafted Deion in the 2nd and Givens in the 7th. They kept Troy around.
Ok, let's look at what I said they'd do after this year. Add low level FAs. check. keep guys from this year. check. draft a receiver on day 1? they already did that last year, no need to do that again. Draft a guy after the 5th round? sure, why not.
Now let's get back to my good points which you completely ignored. Who are these #1 FA WRs the Pats should be going after? Fell free to respond with a list of names rather than some lame "there are some good guys out there" or other piece of subjective crap.
Should the patriots be offering $6M a year for these guys? there are lots of teams with lots of money out there this offseason. teams will have money to spend and the pats will have to at least compete with their offers. Derrick Mason would not come cheaply (or on short years) this year.
Do the Patriots like to avoid headcases? Well there goes guys like Moss, Owens, Porter, etc.
Do the patriots still value receivers less than other teams (part of this being that other teams tend to overvalue WRs)? Hmm, that seems like a barrier to an expensive pick-up which isn't changing.
Do the Patriots have more pressing needs in the draft? A few linebackers and defensive backs would sure look nice out of the draft. Maybe a fullback, or a new RB to replace Dillon or Faulk. You can always use more linemen. Oh, and trading picks for future picks might be a good idea.
Oh I forgot, you mentioned trades. Gotta love those football trades, they happen all the time. let's see, teams trade guys like moss because they're headcases. no thank you. they also trade marginal guys who are only providing depth (Andre Davis, Doug Gabriel). sure, they can trade for one of those. i wouldn't slot him in as a starter ahead of caldwell though. the other reason teams trade guys is simply to get value back, and since we've already established that the Patriots value WRs much less than other teams this doesn't seem a good fit.
JoeSixPat, reread this post again if need be. see what it contains (other than some vitriol)? It's called substance. presentation of ideas and logical conclusions. there's even some decent information in here. Now go ahead and reread your post. i see some condescension, there's some hyperbole, an irrelevant example (Mason), and some abuse of elipses and the dreaded "????." I don't see much of value in there. I'm looking for something constructive but just can't find it.
maybe this place would have been better if I were posting here in '01-'02 if your post is an example of what the site had to offer. Maybe I'd have raised the standards a little.