Patriots Sign WR Brandon LaFell to 3-year contract

Steve Smith is still a really good player and it was a good move by baltimore to sign him because they clearly need him and he fits in well with that team. That said has anyone looked at what has happened to Carolina's receiving corps? They don't have a WR who caught one pass for them last season and they have been striking out in the receiver market. I'm sure they will address it in the Draft but even with that they are going to be in tough shape next season, and i don't think just defense and a run game can get it done in the NFL anymore. I'm not sure what's left on the market but there has been a run on receivers the past few days and it is going to be hard to put together a good receiving corps with what's left in free agency and the draft. They may be able to add a couple of receivers in the draft who could turn into good players but it really looks like they are screwed for 2014.

Ivan said:

That said has anyone looked at what has happened to Carolina's receiving corps? They don't have a WR who caught one pass for them last season and they have been striking out in the receiver market. I'm sure they will address it in the Draft but even with that they are going to be in tough shape next season, and i don't think just defense and a run game can get it done in the NFL anymore. I'm not sure what's left on the market but there has been a run on receivers the past few days and it is going to be hard to put together a good receiving corps with what's left in free agency and the draft. They may be able to add a couple of receivers in the draft who could turn into good players but it really looks like they are screwed for 2014.

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Moral of the story, don't blow your load on running backs (Williams, Stewart, Tolbert):

» Over the Cap- Carolina Panthers 2014 Salary Cap and Contracts

ATippett56 said:

Moral of the story, don't blow your load on running backs (Williams, Stewart, Tolbert):

» Over the Cap- Carolina Panthers 2014 Salary Cap and Contracts

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Poor management, there's no way they should be in that much trouble against the cap with their roster, Newton's not even on his second contract and that's where it gets difficult.

shmessy said:

Yeah, typical. The last 14 years have sucked since those two got together.

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Oh great I finally hear back from the same guy who embarrassed himself all year two years ago when Chad Johnson was here and all you did was stand up for that signing. You are really still posting about WR's with this franchise? Your history is horrible when it comes to this subject. All you ever do is spin anything that this management team does here, and you're wrong every time.

Just look at the history of wideouts that BB and Kraft have brought here. They have one good signing that was a trade to get Moss for dirt cheap. They wouldn't have gone after Moss if it wasn't for pennies in that trade either. I'm actually shocked they even re-signed Moss and didn't just let him walk since he wanted to get paid after breaking records.

Since then it's been Tate, Ocho, Branch again, Lloyd, and Thompkins/Dobson. It has pretty much gotten worse and worse from year to year, and every year in the playoffs the Patriots find a team that knows how to stop all of that middle of the field crap and Brady struggles because he doesn't have any weapons to stretch the outside of the field or on deep plays. Yet, all these die hard fans fail to notice this and just brag about winning seasons.

How many SB's have the Patriots won in the last 10 years? One maybe? All of these winning seasons where they look like the best team in the AFC, but they fall short due to poor offensive games when they're the best offense around the league typically. There was no way they were going to compete against that Broncos team last season after they stole Welker because BB was to cheap to pay him. They had 3 elite WR's vs. a bunch of rookies and midgets on the Pats that Brady is forced to deal with.

Lefell is not an upgrade really. He is just another average receiver they are trying to push on Brady to make him over achieve with. There is a better chance of a Tsunami hitting New England than Gronk being fully healthy in the post season. Might as well forget about that dream. Maybe they can find another Zach Sudfield to be the savior at TE again this year.

Texxx said:

Just look at the history of wideouts that BB and Kraft have brought here. They have one good signing that was a trade to get Moss for dirt cheap. They wouldn't have gone after Moss if it wasn't for pennies in that trade either. I'm actually shocked they even re-signed Moss and didn't just let him walk since he wanted to get paid after breaking records.

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Trolling or early-onset Alzheimer's?

Texxx said:

Oh great I finally hear back from the same guy who embarrassed himself all year two years ago when Chad Johnson was here and all you did was stand up for that signing. You are really still posting about WR's with this franchise? Your history is horrible when it comes to this subject. All you ever do is spin anything that this management team does here, and you're wrong every time.

Just look at the history of wideouts that BB and Kraft have brought here. They have one good signing that was a trade to get Moss for dirt cheap. They wouldn't have gone after Moss if it wasn't for pennies in that trade either. I'm actually shocked they even re-signed Moss and didn't just let him walk since he wanted to get paid after breaking records.

Since then it's been Tate, Ocho, Branch again, Lloyd, and Thompkins/Dobson. It has pretty much gotten worse and worse from year to year, and every year in the playoffs the Patriots find a team that knows how to stop all of that middle of the field crap and Brady struggles because he doesn't have any weapons to stretch the outside of the field or on deep plays. Yet, all these die hard fans fail to notice this and just brag about winning seasons.

How many SB's have the Patriots won in the last 10 years? One maybe? All of these winning seasons where they look like the best team in the AFC, but they fall short due to poor offensive games when they're the best offense around the league typically. There was no way they were going to compete against that Broncos team last season after they stole Welker because BB was to cheap to pay him. They had 3 elite WR's vs. a bunch of rookies and midgets on the Pats that Brady is forced to deal with.

Lefell is not an upgrade really. He is just another average receiver they are trying to push on Brady to make him over achieve with. There is a better chance of a Tsunami hitting New England than Gronk being fully healthy in the post season. Might as well forget about that dream. Maybe they can find another Zach Sudfield to be the savior at TE again this year.

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Those nice elites receivers from the broncos sure does a number on the seahawks.........decker is elite? What...

Snake Eyes said:

Why sign LaFell for that money? I'd much rather go after James Jones.

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hwc said:

Why?

James Jones will be 30 years old this month. In seven years in the league, he's averaged 44 catches per season at 13.9 yards per catch (in one of the best passing offenses in the NFL).

LaFell will be 27 years old at the start of the season. In four years in the league, he's averaged 42 catches per season at 14.3 yards per catch.

Seems like pretty much a wash. Might as well go with the younger guy, figuring that he might have some upside on a team with an effective QB.

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From NEPatriotsDraft's Mike Loyko on Twitter, FWIW:

From what I'm hearing the #Patriots never showed interest in James Jones. Perferred LaFell right out the gate.

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Jones got roughly the same value deal as LaFell (3 years / $11.3M).

JackBauer said:

Trolling or early-onset Alzheimer's?

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You sound exactly like all of these others in here who flamed insults trying to defend Chad Johnson all year. Do I need to go back and pull those threads out again just to show the poor history of a lot of you homers here? Or how about those threads when Amendola was signed here to replace Welker and all of the idiotic arguments that were made then? It's pretty simple. It will easily show that every year a ton of you guys are optimistic no matter who gets signed despite the problems that have been seen year in and year out in the playoffs. Yet, you don't seem to realize that a Lombardi trophy hasn't been in NE in almost 10 years now.



Brady has proven that he can take any mess of bums at the WR position to the playoffs. Hell, you could probably give Brady some college kids right now and he'd drag them to the playoffs. But once they play in those high intense games, these low budget wideouts can't perform against the other elite teams.

Emmanuel Sanders Contract Negotiations: The Agency?s Perspective « LimeLight Communications

Weinberg then told Sanders to turn the car back around, get to the airport and fly to San Francisco as planned. Simultaneously, Weinberg got an unexpected call from the Denver Broncos — Sanders’ first choice of teams from the very beginning. The Broncos told Weinberg they had been trying to sign another receiver on Saturday, but were unsuccessful, and they heard Sanders might still be available. If so, they were prepared to offer a three-year contract in the price range Sanders was looking for. Denver asked Weinberg to hold tight while they worked on preparing a formal offer. Sanders received a text from Weinberg that Denver had just called and they would have an offer soon. Sanders response was “sweet.”

Sounds like they turned to Sanders after missing out on Lafell. So sorry, John.

Texxx said:

You sound exactly like all of these others in here who flamed insults trying to defend Chad Johnson all year. Do I need to go back and pull those threads out again just to show the poor history of a lot of you homers here? Or how about those threads when Amendola was signed here to replace Welker and all of the idiotic arguments that were made then? It's pretty simple. It will easily show that every year a ton of you guys are optimistic no matter who gets signed despite the problems that have been seen year in and year out in the playoffs. Yet, you don't seem to realize that a Lombardi trophy hasn't been in NE in almost 10 years now.

Brady has proven that he can take any mess of bums at the WR position to the playoffs. Hell, you could probably give Brady some college kids right now and he'd drag them to the playoffs. But once they play in those high intense games, these low budget wideouts can't perform against the other elite teams.

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Way to avoid the question. I'll ask it again: trolling or early-onset Alzheimer's?

Personally, I'm going to assume you're a troll based on your bizarre hostility and the fact that you mentioned the very guy in question later on in your post.

If you're going to troll, do a better job of it, please.

Texxx said:

You sound exactly like all of these others in here who flamed insults trying to defend Chad Johnson all year. Do I need to go back and pull those threads out again just to show the poor history of a lot of you homers here? Or how about those threads when Amendola was signed here to replace Welker and all of the idiotic arguments that were made then? It's pretty simple. It will easily show that every year a ton of you guys are optimistic no matter who gets signed despite the problems that have been seen year in and year out in the playoffs. Yet, you don't seem to realize that a Lombardi trophy hasn't been in NE in almost 10 years now.



Brady has proven that he can take any mess of bums at the WR position to the playoffs. Hell, you could probably give Brady some college kids right now and he'd drag them to the playoffs. But once they play in those high intense games, these low budget wideouts can't perform against the other elite teams.

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So what would you have done this off season? Sign ****er not Revis?

skspikex2 said:

Those nice elites receivers from the broncos sure does a number on the seahawks.........decker is elite? What...

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Decker's numbers from the last two seasons were fantastic and he had to share a lot of balls with two other elite WR's and a TE who went over 1,000. Talking down on Decker is pretty foolish and silly. Decker would have been an awsome signing for the Patriots. Would have been that wideout they have needed for the last 4 years.

And by the way, what happened when the Broncos faced the Patriots? The Pats couldn't generate any offense all game long. Why is that? Edelman couldn't carry the load? Gee, what a surprise. A 5th string WR from the year before couldn't carry the Pats receiving core against a team that had 3 elite level wideouts. Who would have thought? Not only is that bad for the Pats by losing, but it's also created a much smaller gap in the Manning/Brady debate. Manning has now been to another SB and has also beaten Brady in the playoffs again.

Texxx said:

You sound exactly like all of these others in here who flamed insults trying to defend Chad Johnson all year. Do I need to go back and pull those threads out again just to show the poor history of a lot of you homers here? Or how about those threads when Amendola was signed here to replace Welker and all of the idiotic arguments that were made then? It's pretty simple. It will easily show that every year a ton of you guys are optimistic no matter who gets signed despite the problems that have been seen year in and year out in the playoffs. Yet, you don't seem to realize that a Lombardi trophy hasn't been in NE in almost 10 years now.

Brady has proven that he can take any mess of bums at the WR position to the playoffs. Hell, you could probably give Brady some college kids right now and he'd drag them to the playoffs. But once they play in those high intense games, these low budget wideouts can't perform against the other elite teams.

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Pssst, I think Jack was talking about Wes Welker.

JackBauer said:

Way to avoid the question. I'll ask it again: trolling or early-onset Alzheimer's?

Personally, I'm going to assume you're a troll based on your bizarre hostility and the fact that you mentioned the very guy in question later on in your post.

If you're going to troll, do a better job of it, please.

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You haven't addressed the actual subject of the thread one time. ALl you have done is screamed troll instead of forming an argument like a 5 year old. You clearly can't address the facts here, the history of problems that I have outlined, so you reach for insults because you have nothing else to bring to the table. Call me what you want, but it's pretty clear to see who the troll is and the homer that just throws out insults instead of actual diatribe.

50-yard-line said:

Pssst, I think Jack was talking about Wes Welker.

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Welker is the best slot WR of all time. He became an even better weapon than Moss due to his reliability and his timing with Brady to always be where he needed to be. Losing him was huge, because Brady lost his safety net and it went to the team's new biggest rival who already had two great weapons at WR. Losing Welker was a disaster and the people that tried to spin it at this time last season ended up with an egg on their face.

Texxx said:

You haven't addressed the actual subject of the thread one time. ALl you have done is screamed troll instead of forming an argument like a 5 year old. You clearly can't address the facts here, the history of problems that I have outlined, so you reach for insults because you have nothing else to bring to the table. Call me what you want, but it's pretty clear to see who the troll is and the homer that just throws out insults instead of actual diatribe.

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Your history, as I've shown, is straight-up wrong. Given your inability to recognize that fact, you'll excuse me for not wasting my time with your half-baked trolling.

Speaking of insults, your vocabulary sucks

Texxx said:

Welker is the best slot WR of all time. He became an even better weapon than Moss due to his reliability and his timing with Brady to always be where he needed to be. Losing him was huge, because Brady lost his safety net and it went to the team's new biggest rival who already had two great weapons at WR. Losing Welker was a disaster and the people that tried to spin it at this time last season ended up with an egg on their face.

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Right, now go back to your post in question and the line Jack highlighted.

Texxx said:

Just look at the history of wideouts that BB and Kraft have brought here. They have one good signing that was a trade to get Moss for dirt cheap.

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Texxx said:

Welker is the best slot WR of all time.

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You are really the worst troll ever.

mayoclinic said:

From NEPatriotsDraft's Mike Loyko on Twitter, FWIW:



Jones got roughly the same value deal as LaFell (3 years / $11.3M).

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Very, very disappointing if true, but unfortunately not really surprising.

Laffell is a good blocker and a great red zone threat.
Would rather have him than James Jones.