Not to beat a dead horse, but what the hell is with people complaining about Brady's options when he was the biggest, badest, best TE in the history of the world, and an unstoppable 100+ catch guy per year?
How many teams have a 1-2 as good as JE and RG? Lol
I guess people just don't count them because one is a small "slot" receiver and the other is a TE.... Newsflash.. They count, and they are option 1 and option 2. Options 3,4 and 5 aren't going to be expensive big names, and they shouldn't be.
The concerns are:
1) Edelman and Gronk being able to get through the entire season without injury, particularly when both have had significant injury histories, and Edelman was just quoted a couple of weeks ago as stating that he's still unsure if he'll need a 2nd surgery on the foot or not.
2) Basically having jack **** behind those two. Guys like Amendola etc are fine
role players that any team could use at the right price, but you need to have someone with the ability to step up and take over just the same. There's no coincidence to the fact that the last 2 seasons that we had a capable WR2, we went to the Super Bowl (2014 LaFell, 2011 Llyod).
3) While Gronk is obviously in a class by himself as a TE, let's not pretend that most other teams don't have comparable 1st and 2nd receiving options just the same--at least the teams that compete at a high level. How do you compare our top two receiving options to say, Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell? How about Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb? Demarius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders? There are pros and cons to each group that you try and compare, but the Patriots certainly don't corner the market on having two very good options of players who can catch the ball.
4) If Edelman is making about 4m dollars a year, where is all of the skill position player money going? It isn't to the QB. It's not to the RBs. It sure as hell isn't to the WRs, particularly if you remove or lessen Amendola's cap hit, which is obviously expected and necessary. Gronk is basically the only player making anything close to his value, and even that's still a 6.6 million dollar cap hit. I'm not meaning to question Belichick's expertise or high level of success, but perhaps it's time to a) swap out Amendola's cost/production, and/or b) add another viable weapon to the offensive side of the ball, even if it's at a middle tier kind of cost? Keep in mind I don't fall into the category of "fantasy" wants like those who bring up Gordon, Megatron, or Fitzgerald every year.
5) We still don't have a real outside WR, despite many failed attempts. At this point, I'm seriously questioning whether or not Belichick even sees it as a need, because he does so very little to address it every year. Either way, it would help open up our usual bread and butter routes and possibly increase the production. Obviously, cost is a major issue, but is should still be addressed on some level.
