POLL: If Pats were to go FA WR route, who's most realisitic?

TommyBrady12 said:

I hope Bill is smart enough not to go the free agent route for WRs. Build up the trenches first and foremost.

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You're saying sign FA linemen and go WR in the draft? We won the Super Bowl this year with the youngest team ever by having success doing the opposite. Our entire roster of o linemen except for Connolly were drafted by us. Only WR drafted was Edelman... And he wasn't a reciever yet.

Go out and get another LaFell (I personally voted for DT) and have the draft go like this: DT, OG, OT, DT, OG, LB

English Patriot said:

Again not talking guarantees here but let's say Bill goes up to Tom and says 'pressure's off a bit, let's have some fun this year' and in this scenario it would probably be Amendola on his way out and bringing in a big time threat to mix in with Gronk, Jules and Lafell. No matter what anyone says i am 100% convinced that if you get Tom a deep ball guy that can just "go up, and get it" we would see numbers that even the stat padder up in Denver wouldn't get close to when you consider the dominance in the short and middle game the Pats O already produces. Plus it would make Tom's job a little bit easier against the likes of Seattle with a home run hitter where the drives don't have to follow the same pattern due to the lack of ability to stretch the field.

So that said, come free agency we've got Revis and Dmac (possibly Vereen?) locked up and the cap has been worked around to give us that flexibility for a wideout, who is it most likely to be? For the sake of this i'm going to leave out the FA's that aren't likely to be big impact players.

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I doubt you'll see any big ticket guy like bryant get signed, and I'm pretty sure they try to get the best roster out there every year -- I don't see next year being any different

if you don't count the first 4 games, and just look at the last 12 + the playoffs, this 2014 team was actually scoring points at the same pace as the 2007 team.

it'll be interesting to see what they do, like every year, but I really don't think a 'home run hitter' would've helped us at all against seattle, as the entire gameplan was small ball.
they have no interest in holding the ball and looking deep against that team.
only thing that might've helped there would've been keeping them out of the endzone a couple times.

I think mccourty and revis (and maybe gostkowski) would be priority signings over any new receiver.

Ross12 said:

Let's reserve judgment on Tim Wright for the moment. Don't forget that Wright was asked by Tampa to lose weight and convert to WR last offseason/TC, before being traded to New England where he was then a TE again. An offseason of proper strength training and coaching to be an actual tight end could make a world of difference.

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If we convert Wright to a WR like Tampa wanted to do, it may be easier to bring in a bigger bodied blocker at TE via the draft and/or free agency, especially since Wright has some experience in our passing game as it is. Just something to ponder while we're discussing WRs.

Probably not likely but I figured that I'd bring it up though, since we were discussing WRs and Wright hasn't exactly been known as much of a blocking TE. It's this reason why I think he didn't see many reps down the stretch, despite his pluses in the receiving game.

The position of TE will likely need to be addressed already depending on BB's opinion on how much Hooman regressed as a blocker this past year.

Ctrl + F Larry Fitzgerald...it he gets cut and wants to win a Super Bowl.......

How is the draft for TE'?

And how did ASF did this year in Tampa? Maybe we can call our trading partners again and send a pick and a player for him?

Save the money to resign some of our FAs first. I think Tim Wright is a great receiver. Beween him, Tyms, and Dobson at least one or two can be coached to be pretty special. I'd rather see the money spent on our interior D-line and maybe add a solid pass rusher. Our pass rush has sucked balls for years now.

Can't go into the season with amendola and freaking Aaron Dobson as your 3 and 4. Need to bring in another reciever

Nobody!
Cut Danny Amendola

I would rather re-sign Shane Vereen than unnecessarily spend money on a wide receiver in unrestricted free agency.

Alternatives to unrestricted free agency at the wide receiver position:
Aaron Dobson
Brian Tyms
Josh Boyce
2015 NFL Draft Selection(s)

Looking forward to the year three "leap" from one of the three wide receivers:
Boyce
Dobson
Tyms

varjao said:

How is the draft for TE'?

And how did ASF did this year in Tampa? Maybe we can call our trading partners again and send a pick and a player for him?

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Regarding TE: Its funny, I was POSITIVE we were going to draft Aaron Hernandez's replacement in the draft last year (or at least a gronk backup), with guys like Eric "the next Jimmy Graham" Ebron , Austin "the next Gronk" Seferian-Jenkins ", Fiedrowitz (or w/e his name was!), and Niklas (again, probably butchering the spelling - don't hate). It seems silly to make those assumptions now, but it just felt like we took a big step back last year (13-14) without being able to run our deadly 2-TE sets. In hindsight, I didn't give BB and Brady enough credit to evolve the offense, which they've done so many times. The offense that won the superbowl reminded me so much of the '01 team with the "dip and dunk" ball.

Not that these guys coming out of the draft were "busts" by any means, but it seems like we were just fine at the TE/WR position. I think that Wright gave us enough of a threat to be dangerous from the Hernandez role..

Regarding WR: a few things helped...
1.) Lafell was the antithesis of every other WR signing we've had lately (Yes, there are exceptions), and he is TOUGH, took on a huge role blocking.
2.) Health --- I don't have the stats to back this up, but WR is a notoriously "injury prone" position, we had all of our week 1 starters on the field and healthy - Minus some bumps and bruises (and Dobson - geez)
3.) Amendola - came on big @ end of year

Keep in mind in 2015 we still have Boyce/Dobson/Tyms coming back that can be thought of as "draft picks" -- I know lots of folks have lost faith but there is a reason the Pats have kept them on roster and not cut/traded them..Plus you could have Shane "11 catches in SB" Vereen back on the roster...

A man named Brady said:

Can't go into the season with amendola and freaking Aaron Dobson as your 3 and 4. Need to bring in another reciever

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Technically you could say they are 4 and 5 or even 5 and 6. If you use Wright a lot more that could fall to 6 and 7.

Man, imagine if we could convert Wright to WR and had him and LaFell on the outside with JE in the slot. Then draft a TE. Get a OG to help with protection and bolster the run game

TBR said:

How about a 1 year deal for Brandon Marshall if he gets released?

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I love Marshall as a player, and since getting treatment for his BPD in Chicago he's emerged as an ultra mature guy and a leader on that team. I would be surprised if they cut him for that reason, but I definitely would be a fan if the Patriots brought him in.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

I could see Andre Johnson or Larry Fitzgerald if one gets cut and wants last shot at a title. These guys are past their primes but could still help.

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fitzgerald still has a lot left, the qb's in arizona just suck.

Bruins29 said:

Neither was the killer but nobody complained.

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the killer played more than 10 snaps a game....

Gronkowski123 said:

the killer played more than 10 snaps a game....

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DA had the hot and and they rode him. I am not worried about TW. Guy can ball.

Ross12 said:

Cecil Shorts anyone? I like that guy, I feel like he would be a good contributor. Not too tall though, I don't think.

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Gronk couldn't possibly resist giving a guy named Cecil Shorts a wedgie whenever the opportunity arises. Sign the beast!

Even if they wanted to bring in a non-JAG FA WR, where do we think they're going to find the money?

Pass rusher(s)

If only Justin Houston wasn't a 3-4 OLB..

I don't think any of the options are realistic given what they would cost, our cap situation and who we need to resign.

If for some reason one of them was willing to take a bargain basement one year deal just to get a title I think Maclin would fit into the offense the best while still adding another element in the deep game. He would be an absolute stud in this offense. Deion Branch in his prime with more speed.

everlong said:

I don't think any of the options are realistic given what they would cost, our cap situation and who we need to resign.

If for some reason one of them was willing to take a bargain basement one year deal just to get a title I think Maclin would fit into the offense the best while still adding another element in the deep game. He would be an absolute stud in this offense. Deion Branch in his prime with more speed.

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Yep, he would be nice to see. I saw one estimate that put the Eagles $40M under the cap after cutting some bad contracts though, so it seems they'd have no problem tagging him.