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.
Cousin, I think Edelman would be a better pick up than Lloyd. I think he can do more and play special Teams (DB?What?) and BB loves versatility.
But I would say perfectly clear and an understatement is we cannot depend on a Draft pick WR. Three years is the development time when they come into their own. We don't have that time with TB12.
Even WR talents like Green, Jones and Bryant struggled out the gate in their first year. Last years first round WR class of Jenkins, Blackmon, Wright and Flloyd were not the greatest contributors. They will get better but when?
I have studied this WR class. They all have warts. Strangely the only one I will predict will make a difference right away is Stedman Bailey. He is probably a third rounder. All he did was make plays. The others are either lousy running routes, unrealiable hands, immature, don't like contact, to frail etc.
Stedman is like 5"10 and 195. He reminds me of Steve Smith. All he does is make plays.......
But that being said if right now is important to TB12, I think Sanders is better than anything they get in round three so adios with the third rounder. You would not have to give a pick for Danario Alexander to the Chargers and although a mid year addition he was rated as the most proficient NFL WR last year. Watch the tape. His speed is back. His cutting is back. His hands are great. I don't understand the lack of interest in 1 6'5" guy with speed who has overcome college injuries.He is not hurt know and feels great. No Draft pick Bill. Ya hear that? What if he gets hurt again?(see Gronk, Hernandez, Amandola etc. on our roster). Anyone can get hurt including TB12. We pray none of them do. You also have a BB Draft favorite of Jon Baldwin that can be had from Andy Reid. BB and Andy love Draft day swaps together.
Fact -The best WRs on the Pats in the last six years have been Welker and Moss.....and they were?....trades.
To say BB will pick up a right now contributing WR in this Draft is dangerous. I think even Bill knows he has weak points and WR and DBs are not his strong suit. A point was made last night on NFLN that the Past have drafted 10 DBs in the last five years including an over reach for Tavon Wilson. Yes he did not have a bad year considering but he would have done the same job if drafted in the fourth round. His production did not warrant a second round pick.
Just in that second round after Wilson, the Pats could have had Kendall Reyes, DT, Connecticut to the Chargers, Zach Brown, OLB, North Carolina to the Titans who was superb and Lavonte David, OLB, Nebraska Tampa was hurt but a big future. Would you trade any of these even up for Wilson right now? Of course. Back up Safety is about right for him. I hope I am dead wrong. Maybe he surpasses these few but I doubt it.
O.K. I got way off point about the post but my opinion is for whatever reason his Drafts are good but WR and DB are not so much.
The most talented DB on the Pats roster right now is....? Talib....and he is a ?....Trade.
What I am saying is the Draft is nice but that is your development and depth for a Team like the Pats. Teams like Buffalo need plug and play Draftees. As example, I expect Jones will be a force in 2014 and Solder could be All Pro but three years is about right.
I would rather take a guy like Hunt who has ST value (when was the last time the Past blocked a FG? It has been a couple years) and they say he is raw. Remember he is faster at 4.6 than some of our DBs and all of our LBs.
So--------
WR DA
WR Sanders/Alexander/Baldwin
WR Jones
WR Edelman
WR F/A like a Nelson or DHB who is still young or if Salas became available again as we could not hide him on the taxi squad.
DW Toys
