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

Get OL and DL in order(FA, draft) , keep who we have mostly, draft a TE, OL,LB and DL . Easley back, DObs, Tyms, Joyce, Lafell Wright one more year in the system . If Vince or Mayo play hardball, well they are probably gone.

How nice for Brady to have for a 2nd year in a row the same WR group !

hwc said:

Michael Crabtree, 68 receptions, 698 yards.

Does he block downfield better than JoJo LaFell? Fewer receptions, fewer yards per catch. Where's the upgrade?

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You are aware last year was Crabtree first full season back from an achilles tear and his QB had a crap year, right? His stats are pretty equal to Lafell's and they both played with garbage QB's.

Lafell's best year ever was 2014 where he had 74 rec for 953 yds & 7 td's (Brady tossing him the rock)
Crabtree's best year was 2012 where he had 85 rec for 1105 & 9 td's. (Colin Kap as QB)

Crabtree > every WR on our roster except Edelman or possibly Lafell.

I don't think we get a WR in FA anyways. Unless the staff has given up on Dobson and Amendola is gone, we have depth and you would have to cut one of the above or a back end guy like Tyms to make room for another WR which i don't see happening at this point.

supafly said:

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.

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Yeah, I thought of that too, but it does seem unlikely. If the Pats were gonna use him at WR then they would have kept him on the WR track last year, wouldn't they have? Instead of moving him back to TE after a summer of attempted WR conversion by Tampa.

Wright is a big guy but I don't know if he is necessarily quick enough to beat great corners outside consistently. He can definitely take advantage of linebackers and safeties though. That's the goal of the 2TE set - you have two guys in tight who can stretch you vertically and destroy your LB's or safeties, but both need to be at least competent blocking in the running game or else no one will bite. Gronk is a mauler but Wright needs to get his strength up. I'm guessing that's why Hoomanawanui was in so much, despite his limitations; he was at least a better blocker than Wright. If Wright can be as good or better blocking than Hooman then it's no contest.

BB should cross-train Jimmy Garopolo as a WR like he did Edelman. It would give him something to do besides sit on the Gatorade bucket during games.

I'm assuming that he could run/catch/block.

Patriots1364life said:

Andre Johnson if he becomes a cap casualty. He would fit nicely.

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He's 33 and coming off one of his worst years as a pro. Seems very unlikely.

LeoparCT said:

He's 33 and coming off one of his worst years as a pro. Seems very unlikely.

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And probably the worst QB situation of his entire career, or ranking up there with the worst.

He's similar to Fitzgerald, he's obviously getting older and common sense says your abilities deteriorate, but how much worse did the QB situation make it look?

strngplyr said:

And probably the worst QB situation of his entire career, or ranking up there with the worst.

He's similar to Fitzgerald, he's obviously getting older and common sense says your abilities deteriorate, but how much worse did the QB situation make it look?

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Still doesn't take away from the fact he will be 34 years old next season and after 12 years in the league his days as one of the best in his position are over. The pats either need to draft a young receiver or trade for one because picking up high priced declining veterans will not benefit this team.

But he still had 85 catches for 936 yds. I'd take that from my third WR

LeoparCT said:

He's 33 and coming off one of his worst years as a pro. Seems very unlikely.

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Sfpat said:

But he still had 85 catches for 936 yds. I'd take that from my third WR

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He was the Texans #1 target though. Put him at #3 and those numbers at halved and that's if he's lucky he probably gets 25-30 catches as our #3 and might not break 400 yards. You have to have perspective.

andre is all about the $$$$

Jeremy Maclin for 2 years, and he would put up more yards than Torrey Smith would for much less...

I'll be surprised if any of these receivers comes to the Pats.

YankeePatriotsFan said:

Jeremy Maclin for 2 years, and he would put up more yards than Torrey Smith would for much less...

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All the estimates I've seen are around $10M a year for Maclin and the franchise tag if he's not locked up before free agency.

Sciz said:

All the estimates I've seen are around $10M a year for Maclin and the franchise tag if he's not locked up before free agency.

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Jeremy Maclin would thrive in the Patriots system here. I could see him putting 1200 yards, and 11 TD's under Belichick's guidance, and Brady throwing to him. He already plays in a similar system with Chip Kelly down in Philadelphia.

Perhaps this list of 31 might provide ideas. Brady6 posted this in another thread,

31. keep Amendola
What # do you think Amendola would be on this list?
1. Dez Bryant
2. Demaryius Thomas
3. Randall Cobb
4. Jeremy Maclin
5. Torrey Smith
6. Michael Crabtree
7. Kenny Britt
8. Cecil Shorts
9. Eddie Royal
10. Nate Washington
11. Wes Welker
12. Hakeem Nicks
13. Reggie Wayne
14. Denarius Moore
15. Leonard Hankerson
16. Dwayne Harris
17. Vincent Brown
18. Miles Austin
19. Jerrel Jernigan
20. Brandon Lloyd
21. Brad Smith
22. Santana Moss
23. Jason Avant
24. Marcus Easley
25. Derek Hagan
26. Robert Meachem
27. Greg Salas
28. Dane Sanzenbacher
29. Kevin Ogletree
30. Darrius Heyward-Bey

I wonder what happened to Danario Alexander and if we could bring him in as camp body.

I am at least a little intrigued by Hakeem Nicks. He was awesome for NY for a few years recently, he's not that old yet. He's probably not an improvement over LaFell at this point though.

Denarius Moore is a real speedster but has drop issues. Then again LaFell was said to have drop issues and he's been fine here. Maybe he would be a good signing?

Last year our recieving core made 392 receptions. Of those 392 receptions 56 belong to FA's, and 6 to K. Thompkins who was cut. That means 84.2% of the receptions made are accounted for with players under contract. 52 of those afforementiond we're from Shane Vereen. Last I checked he's not a WR.

Amendola and his 27 catches may or may not be gone. Dobson and Tyms combined for 8 and they could be considered expendable. As of right now the only players on the roster with kick/punt return exp. are Amendola, Edelman and Chung. Cutting Amendola doesn't just mean losing 27 catches.

I don't think anyone has the mindset that Edelman, Lafell, Gronk, Wright are going anywhere. I think most here reasonably expect Wright to catch some more balls next and would also reasonably expect the big 3 to be somewhere near the #'s last year.

I see alot of posts wanting to bring in whoever and maybe we get 75-85 catches and 800-1000 yards out of him. This ain't Madden kids. Does anyone think we stop throwing passes to the RB's? How many catches do we take away from the big 3? We're already up against the cap, who do we cut to bring in this big name FA?

Looking at the roster I'd put WR and TE down at the bottom of my list of needs. I'd much rather bring Vereen back and that would make RB a low priority as well. Pick up a late pick/UDFA for competition/depth/grooming that sounds OK. If we cut Amendola and let Vereen walk that makes 2 big potential holes. That would be returner and pass catcher out of the backfeild. I just don't see how big name/money WR fits what this team needs. We're the defending champs with most of our offensive skill positions intact and under contract.

OhExaulted1 said:

Last year our recieving core made 392 receptions. Of those 392 receptions 56 belong to FA's, and 6 to K. Thompkins who was cut. That means 84.2% of the receptions made are accounted for with players under contract. 52 of those afforementiond we're from Shane Vereen. Last I checked he's not a WR.

Amendola and his 27 catches may or may not be gone. Dobson and Tyms combined for 8 and they could be considered expendable. As of right now the only players on the roster with kick/punt return exp. are Amendola, Edelman and Chung. Cutting Amendola doesn't just mean losing 27 catches.

I don't think anyone has the mindset that Edelman, Lafell, Gronk, Wright are going anywhere. I think most here reasonably expect Wright to catch some more balls next and would also reasonably expect the big 3 to be somewhere near the #'s last year.

I see alot of posts wanting to bring in whoever and maybe we get 75-85 catches and 800-1000 yards out of him. This ain't Madden kids. Does anyone think we stop throwing passes to the RB's? How many catches do we take away from the big 3? We're already up against the cap, who do we cut to bring in this big name FA?

Looking at the roster I'd put WR and TE down at the bottom of my list of needs. I'd much rather bring Vereen back and that would make RB a low priority as well. Pick up a late pick/UDFA for competition/depth/grooming that sounds OK. If we cut Amendola and let Vereen walk that makes 2 big potential holes. That would be returner and pass catcher out of the backfeild. I just don't see how big name/money WR fits what this team needs. We're the defending champs with most of our offensive skill positions intact and under contract.

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Totally agree. Which is why I have been saying that re-signing Vereen (or maybe white is ready to take on that role?) is paramount to WR/TE upgrades.

I do think that Amendola needs to restructure, for the kind of production he gives us, he should be getting paid like a 4th option that returns kicks, which would open up some money for other positions..

How about Percy Harvin after the Jets cut him next month?

Skill-wise, the guy has it in spades and is probably an ideal fit in the Pats offense. Given his suspect character flaws, I'm not sure how many teams would show an interest in the guy should he get cut. He might be open to working on a 1 year prove it deal for not a ton of $.

The Pats seem to have a penchant for such arrangements .... and you would think would be, perhaps the most attractive place to consider, for such a player looking to prove himself, on what will be a very popular team, that has serious SB contender written all over it, QB'd by the GOAT.