WR: if Pats re-sign Edelman and Lloyd, are we stronger at WR than we were last season

[Leemo]

losing welker, gaining amendola and jones....

 

[nekromantique]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Roughly equal, potentially better.

It'd be a younger, more athletic Core than Welker, Lloyd, Branch, Edelman.

But where Lloyd and Edelman may develop better chemistry with Brady in another year, Amendola and Jones are a fresh start.

If everyone can remain healthy, and Amendola/Jones mesh quickly with Brady, i'd say its a solid upgrade over last year.

 

[resdubwhite]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

hard to know. If Brady can trust the other receivers then its good to have more than one big threat or go to guy.

Heres hoping.

 

[BTTA]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

I'm interested in, but by no means sold on, the idea floated here in a number of posts, that with Welker gone, we may be better at QB.

 

[fnordcircle]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Until Amendola plays an entire season, we are weaker.

I'm hopeful and I've moved on from Welker, but I'm trying to be objective here.

 

[Rob0729]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Depth-wise, the Pats are stronger. Weaker at the top. If Amendola stays healthy, they are better. If he doesn't, not so much.

 

[ALP]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Well Edelman is the same

After a year with Brady, but a year older lets call Lloyd a small upgrade

Jones is a small to potentially great upgrade from branch last year who did almost nothing....this range for Jones from small to great is dependent on chemistry level with Brady

The tricky assessment has to do with Amendola, that I would say is a small to massive downgrade from Wes...the specific level depends on chemistry with Brady and durability, however Wes age is also taken into account, and so is the
Extra versatility provided by Danny...if Danny can have same chemistry with Brady that Wes did, and can stay healthy, he can get close to Wes production as an individual, but due to the more mismatches he represents on the field for our offense he may be more helpful to the offense as a whole

 

[DocHoliday]

WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last season

We don't know anything about Jones. He has a no guaranteed contract and for all we know is nothing more than this years camp Gaffey or Stallworth or Gonzalez or ....

 

[VOODOOZF]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

How could anyone in their right mind say the Patriots are better off with Amendola than Welker?

Wes Welker is arguably the greatest slot WR of all time. The man has been responsible for over 30% off all Tom Brady's passes and caught more than 100 balls every year he has been with the Patriots. Did I mention he has been an ironman compared to Amendola?

I don't argue that Amendola is a quality option when healthy, but there is little evidence that he is in same league as Welker on the rare occasion that he has been healthy. The man has only played in 11 games over the last two years and has 64 catches in that time.

The Pats have downgraded themselves at the WR position for reasons only they can explain. If they truly wanted Welker they could have had him for a few dollars more. Fact if the matter is Belichick didnt truly want Welker back for personal reasons. Simply watch the first couple of games from last season when the Pats clearly tried to phase Welker out in favor of the very mediocre Julian Edelman. All of which is infuriating when one considers how much under the cap the Pats are and how they have yet to fill positions of need. Felger is correct when he suggests the Patriots are in search of a great deal rather than a great player. Tom Brady is getting too old for this type of nickel and dime approach to the f/a market.

At the moment the Patriots are worse than they were at the end of last season and that is inexcusable considering how much cap space they have to play with and the players who were on the market at very reduced rates.

 

[Wilfork#75]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

I think you would have to say weaker, and right now considerably. Welker's strength was his durability, consistency and chemistry with Brady. Until Amendola can show any of those things I think its a major downgrade. If he stays healthy and build that relationship with Brady then I don't think the drop off will be that far, but I certainly don't think he will ever be as good as Wes Welker.

I don't see Lloyd back, but even if he does come back his production will be much lower. The only reason he put up decent looking numbers is because of the number of targets he got while we fed him the ball trying to get him going in the offense. Now we know what we have in him Brady won't give him anywhere near the amount of targets and his numbers will drop considerably. I don't think cutting him was purely about money, I just don't think he is as good as we thought and not worth the headache.

I like Edelman and would re-sign him, but he isn't a primary target and his value mainly comes from his versatility. Right now I think Jones is 50/50 even making the roster so I wouldn't consider him an upgrade over anyone, even Branch. While Branch may not have had anything physically, he still had that connection with Brady. Overall I think our WR group has taken a step back so far, which is a concern considering I thought it was our 2nd biggest need going into free agency. Things can certainly change though with the draft.

With the depth and talent of this WR draft class I would love to get two guys in the 2nd/3rd round. Then maybe a late round or UDFA to compete in camp as well. Sign some vets for competition and then we could have the makings of a decent WR group. Ideally we could have something like this:

WR- Amendola
WR- Edelman
WR- 2nd round pick (Hopkins, Hunter, Wheaton)
WR- 3rd round pick (Rogers, T. Williams, Patton)
WR- Jones/vet FA/late round pick (Marquess Wilson)

To me that is starting to look pretty good. We still don't really have any guys with chemistry with Brady, but hopefully no Welker forces Brady to move the ball around a bit more.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

On paper they are vastly inferior. However, they play the games on the field so who knows until the balls start flying.

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

I think if you're being generous, then you could say that we're roughly equal if that happens. Jones, if he sticks, would be an improvement over Branch at this point in Deion's career. Amendola is a downgrade from Welker. As of right now, there's no question that the WR position is weaker. Hopefully, the team has some tricks up its sleeve.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Weaker but within striking distance of better if Jones can actually play or Edes stays healthy and most importantly if we draft a beyond 10 yds WR or sign Wallace.

 

[Bruins29]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Why are we so worried about "last year?"

Maybe we should think about the WR we had during our 3 Super Bowls?????

That group wasnt exactly lighting the world on fire yet somehow we won 3 Lombardis with them.

Hmmm

 

[VOODOOZF]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Why are we so worried about "last year?"

Maybe we should think about the WR we had during our 3 Super Bowls?????

That group wasnt exactly lighting the world on fire yet somehow we won 3 Lombardis with them.

Hmmm

It's a different league today. Mediocre offense does not win Superbowls. Beyond that you have to take into account that the Patriots had a superior defense then compared to a defense that hasn't been able to get off the field on third down in years.

 

[MoneyFX]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

Yeah I agree. It will make a nice WR corps if that happens. Regardless though, I hope they will bring in someone else from the draft, so much talent at the position this year.

 

[Bruins29]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

It's a different league today. Mediocre offense does not win Superbowls. Beyond that you have to take into account that the Patriots had a superior defense then compared to a defense that hasn't been able to get off the field on third down in years.

Well, who says they were mediocre? Because they diddnt have one guy putting up HOF numbers?

Our TE tandem is probably the best ever in the NFL. Dont see how or where we could be mediocre.

Now lets focus on the defense you mentioned. Isn't it entirely possible that the FO is trying to put together a D like the one we had when we actually WON championships????

Maybe, just maybe, that is the formula when you have the GOAT QB and TEs?????

And maybe just maybe the chicken little idiots can stop harping over and over about the WR group, which is obviously in flux, and stop starting threads on it over and over?

Can I get a just maybe?

God is this place ridiculous.

 

[VOODOOZF]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

losing welker, gaining amendola and jones....

I can tell you who got better at WR...The Denver Broncos.

I still can't get over the fact that not only did the Patriots get worse at WR our main competition (Denver) got MUCH better and nobody can give a logical reason why.

The thought of Arrington trying to cover Welker in the AFC Championship keeps me up at night.

 

[Bruins29]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

I still can't get over the fact that not only did the Patriots get worse at WR our main competition (Denver) got MUCH better and nobody can give a logical reason why.

.

Season start today?

Is the WR the only position on the team?

is Denver better in every other position?

Is there any guarantee that WW and Manning will have the same chemistry as WW and TB or even WW and the Pats system.

 

[mgteich]

Re: WR - if we re-sign Edelman and Lloy, are we stronger at WR than we were last se

We'd be worse at WR. I'd still draft a WR.

However, we might be better in the passing game, if Gronkowski and Hernandez (and Edelman) are healthy for more games than last year (and add Ballard).

Clearly, we all understood that we might lose Welker and Branch. If we replace them with Amendola, Jones and a draftee (could be Sanders), brought in camp competition, then we did the best that we could. That of course presumes that we also don't have to replace Lloyd and Edelman.