Steve Smith ran a 4.38 coming out of College. Welker a 4.55. The speed is a huge factor in the difference between the two. Look...at...the...tape. Don't just take a peak at the stat sheet.
My two cents: I'd love to have Steve Smith. Dude is an amazing football player. He's tough as nails, is incredibly quick and fast. He's not as productive as Welker is, however. You say don't peek at the stat sheet, but the stats do tell at least part of the story. Welker is unbelievably productive. Don't look at the size or the combine numbers (just as you don't want people to look at the stats). The fact is that Wes Welker has been one of the most productive WR in the sport over the past 5 seasons. He's a guy I want on my team. (Can I have both him *and* Steve Smith?)
You can see what;s restricting our offense, and it's not having a true split end.
Here are the numbers this team has put up since 2007:
2007
- pts: 589 (36.8/g)
- rank: #1 pts, #1 yds
2008 (without Brady)
- pts: 410 (25.6/g)
- rank: #8 pts, #5 yds
2009
- pts: 427 (26.7/g)
- rank: #6 pts, #3 yds
2010
- pts: 518 (32.4/g)
- rank: #1 pts, #8 yds
2011
- pts: 513 (32.1/g)
- rank: #3 pts, #2 yds
If we toss out the year with Cassel instead of Brady, we're talking about an average line of this:
32.0 ppg
#2.8 avg rank pts
#3.5 avg rank yds
Over that span of time this team has set a bunch of offensive records. It's hard to argue that not having a true split end is holding them back.
Now, granted, Moss was with them for a bunch of it, so let's just look at the last 2 seasons. We're still talking about:
- 32.2 ppg
- #2 rank pts
- #5 rank yds
- 29 of 32 games with 20+ pts
- 23 of 32 games with 30+ pts
It's really, really hard to argue that this team is being held back offensively. In the playoffs the past two seasons, here's what they've scored: 21, 45, 23, 17. That's an average of 26.5. It's below their norm, but it's still a pretty good amount of points.
Would a dynamic outside receiver help? Sure - and I've advocated them signing a guy like Lloyd or Meacham. But it's not like this offense is being held back. I mean, they're basically a juggernaut year-in and year-out.