WR issues

[Brady_to_Moss]

If the rumors are true than lloyd is gone..so all we really have ATM is a bunch of joe's back there. Now i see it as they almost have to bring welker back now or put most of the cap $$ to WRs or a big time WR.

Are they thinking mike wallace here? Are they expecting this to be a non issue with all the TEs? Harvin?

 

[Sciz]

Belichick isn't stupid. He'll find something. I'm pretty confident that something won't be Wallace.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Belichick isn't stupid. He'll find something. I'm pretty confident that something won't be Wallace.

I just wonder if those 900-1000 yards will come at a higher price than lloyd. it probably will which is why i am frustrated

 

[JackBauer]

I don't get the Mike Wallace love.

Easy solution: resign Welker, draft a WR high. Resign Edelman and sign a mid-range FA.

 

[tonyto3690]

Wallace is not happening. He had one good stretch run and since then has stunk it up. He wasn't even the best receiver on his own team. He is asking way too much, is a mediocre route runner, and is a me-first player and headcase.

Harvin is not even a possibility unless Harvin agrees on a contract that the Patriots like, completely ignoring the high asking price the Vikings are sure to ask for him. Patriots can't give a 2nd round pick for him and Harvin would be dumb to not take his pay day he is up for.

If we lose a little on offense that's okay. That'd actually be negated by the hopeful health of Hernandez and Gronkowski. If we resign Welker, Edelman, Stallworth and draft a good prospect, that is all we need. We don't need Welker Hernandez Gronk and a 10 per year WR. That's just overkill and a waste of money.

Stay healthy, become a team that LOOKS to run against a teams base set, and continue to invest/groom our defense.

Spending big money on two big time receivers (one being Welker) is just stupid team management.

 

[Ty Law]

I don't get the Mike Wallace love.

Easy solution: resign Welker, draft a WR high. Resign Edelman and sign a mid-range FA.

Whose the mid-range FA that is better than lloyd?

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I don't get the Mike Wallace love.

Easy solution: resign Welker, draft a WR high. Resign Edelman and sign a mid-range FA.

Its not that simple. Welker is not a number 1 receiver and the team has other needs as well, including OT if vollmer signs elsewhere and safety if they can't land reed. Also belichicks track record for drafting WRs is pitiful.

 

[Sciz]

I just wonder if those 900-1000 yards will come at a higher price than lloyd. it probably will which is why i am frustrated

I see two options here.

1. Pay a WR $10M a year with the goal of getting about 1200 yards and changing how defenses can defend the Pats' offense. Bowe makes the most sense, in my opinion, as long as he's not franchised, which is far from given. Then you hope that this new WR puts the Pats' offense over the top and helps prevent these recent playoff woes.

2. Let Lloyd go, pick up a lesser WR with some upside, be it a $2-3M free agent or a rookie, and then hope that the TE group, thanks to either better health or a better backup, can pick up the slack. The 2011 TEs had about 750 more receiving yards than the 2012 TEs did, so if they expect better production than last season, they could probably get away with skimping at WR. Probably not much of a concern in the regular season, could be a problem in the playoffs, especially if there are injuries.

 

[SHOWTIME15]

I see two options here.

1. Pay a WR $10M a year with the goal of getting about 1200 yards and changing how defenses can defend the Pats' offense. Bowe makes the most sense, in my opinion, as long as he's not franchised, which is far from given. Then you hope that this new WR puts the Pats' offense over the top and helps prevent these recent playoff woes.

2. Let Lloyd go, pick up a lesser WR with some upside, be it a $2-3M free agent or a rookie, and then hope that the TE group, thanks to either better health or a better backup, can pick up the slack. The 2011 TEs had about 750 more receiving yards than the 2012 TEs did, so if they expect better production than last season, they could probably get away with skimping at WR. Probably not much of a concern in the regular season, could be a problem in the playoffs, especially if there are injuries.

Cruz is also an option, although he'd cost the team a first rounder.

 

[JackBauer]

Whose the mid-range FA that is better than lloyd?

I'm not averse to keeping Lloyd in theory. That's a decision the team will need to make based on information we're not privy to.

I doubt any mid-range FA they sign will be better than Lloyd, though, to answer your question.

 

[JackBauer]

Its not that simple. Welker is not a number 1 receiver and the team has other needs as well, including OT if vollmer signs elsewhere and safety if they can't land reed. Also belichicks track record for drafting WRs is pitiful.

Welker is a WR1 based on production. But they need a better surrounding cast (specifically, players that can threaten middle deep) if they don't want to get shut down in the playoffs again.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Cruz is also an option, although he'd cost the team a first rounder.

Ergo, he isn't an option.

 

[BradyManny]

I don't get the Mike Wallace love.

Easy solution: resign Welker, draft a WR high. Resign Edelman and sign a mid-range FA.

I was hating on Edelman (as a WR) for most of last year, but he started to really turn a corner and was really emerging. He was pushing Lloyd for snaps. He can get over the top.

If this were our receiving group (using Bedard's nomenclature):

SPLIT END (X) - 1st or 2nd rounder
FLANKER (Z) - Edelman
SLOT - Wes
DEPTH - David Nelson

I would feel good. There's a lot of redundancy in a good way. Nelson can play two of those positions probably. Edelman can play two of them. Hernandez can play all three, though I think we all like him best on the interior somewhere.

I'd argue you want to use either a 2nd pick or a cheap vet signing on another Split End type. But that might not be necessary with Hernandez' versatility.

 

[HomerSchooled]

Wallace is not happening. He had one good stretch run and since then has stunk it up. He wasn't even the best receiver on his own team. He is asking way too much, is a mediocre route runner, and is a me-first player and headcase.

I'm always curious as to why people say Antonio Brown is a better WR than Mike Wallace. Wallace has dwarfed him in yards, YPC, and TDs the past couple years, and I'd have to assume he gets a lot more attention and scheming against. Brown has special teams value, I guess, but his production only ever became notable once teams started overcompensating for Wallace.

That all being said, Pittsburgh seems to have one of the better front offices around, and they're willing to let Wallace walk. How reluctant they are about it is anyone's guess. If they could pick one or the other to stay at equal cost, I suspect it'd actually be Wallace. Brown only ever got his deal because Wallace turned their offer down.

Personally, there's not a DB in the game I would trust one on one against Wallace. I wouldn't say the same for Brown.

 

[mgteich]

OK, top receivers get TWELVE million a year. I guess a mid-range receiver is in the range of $6M-$9M. This is fine. The cap would be about the same as for Lloyd, perhaps a million more. I'm fine with this strategy.

The issue is Lloyd himself. As $4M a year for the next two years, he is a bargain if whatever the issues are can be resolved. If not, he's gone, period.

So, my bottom line is if the problems with Lloyd are real, he is likely gone. If not, we may upgrade or not, depending on negotiations in the first week of free agency with other receivers.

I don't get the Mike Wallace love.

Easy solution: resign Welker, draft a WR high. Resign Edelman and sign a mid-range FA.

 

[jmt57]

If the rumors are true than lloyd is gone..so all we really have ATM is a bunch of joe's back there. Now i see it as they almost have to bring welker back now or put most of the cap $$ to WRs or a big time WR.

Are they thinking mike wallace here? Are they expecting this to be a non issue with all the TEs? Harvin?

A year ago today the Patriots had only Ochocinco, Edelman and Slater under contract, and many were calling one, two, or all three to be released. Four weeks later the Pats had those two plus Welker, Lloyd, Branch, Gaffney, Gonzalez, and probably a few others that I cannot recall.

The point is that I wouldn't worry too much about what the roster looks like today. After the start of the new league year more players at every position will be released, and the Pats could very well end up with a player that nobody is even considering right now.

 

[doesntmatter1]

I am nervously excited about going into next year without any of our previous wrs. It would instantly make our offense unpredictable.

I am hoping to see the 04 offense again. We had a solid running game and I truly couldn't tell who was brady's favorite target between brown, branch, and givens. Then we had sneaky contributors such as kevin faulk and our tight ends fauria and graham. The only team that i have seen with this amount of unpredictability has been the saints.

 

[eom]

people are always talking about possible free agent signings, but they picked up welker as rfa in march, and traded for moss during the draft.

 

[JoeSixPat]

Belichick isn't stupid. He'll find something. I'm pretty confident that something won't be Wallace.

I'm having an odd sense of deja vu

Didn't people say the same thing about the prospects of signing Randy Moss?

Some didn't even think we needed a deep threat at the time.

They thought we were all set with Reche Caldwell, our leading receiver from a 12-4 team that was just a play or two short of the Super Bowl that season, suffering a disappointing loss in the Conference Championship.

At only $1 million in 2007 salary, Caldwell was considered pretty safe - especially since Belichick really didn't know what he had with these guys he brought in called Welker, Moss and Stallworth.

 

[patsfan-1982]

if Lloyd is cut the only big name WR the pats will try to sign is Welker and if he walks it will be all JAG's and vets and maybe a rookie...but this is not like 2006 the pats still have the two best TE's in the NFL and a 1200 yard RB and Brady has thrown for over 10000 yards the last two years the pats offense will be ok