Sign the Beast VIII: Patriots interested in WR Brian Hartline

"Since 2010, Brady ranks 25th out of 31 qualifying quarterbacks in completion percentage on passes over 20 yards in the air.

He has hit on just 30.3 percent of those throws.

Compare that to Aaron Rodgers (44.4 percent, No. 2 in that time frame) or even Manning (38.2, No. 7). This season the contrast is particularly sharp. Manning sits at 41.5 percent in 2013, compared to Brady's mark of just 22.9."

BlueThunder said:

"Since 2010, Brady ranks 25th out of 31 qualifying quarterbacks in completion percentage on passes over 20 yards in the air.

He has hit on just 30.3 percent of those throws.

Compare that to Aaron Rodgers (44.4 percent, No. 2 in that time frame) or even Manning (38.2, No. 7). This season the contrast is particularly sharp. Manning sits at 41.5 percent in 2013, compared to Brady's mark of just 22.9."

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Yes.... Since the Patriots went back to wide receivers who don't threaten middle-deep and are on the shorter side, the percentage of deep pass completions has dropped. That's not a surprise, nor should it be one.

Deus Irae said:

Yes.... Since the Patriots went back to wide receivers who don't threaten middle-deep and are on the shorter side, the percentage of deep pass completions has dropped. That's not a surprise, nor should it be one.

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Also kind of relevant that 14% less than Rodgers is only 1 out of every ~7 throws that Rodgers completes over Brady. 1 of 12 for Manning.

Unless i did that wrong.

I don't think that's too bad considering our leading receivers haven't cracked 6 feet tall since ...Moss?

deters said:

Once you go white, you don't go back

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it would be nice to have an explosive guy on the outside for a change.

hey, if the jets ever release decker you know where his next stop is!

strngplyr said:

Also kind of relevant that 14% less than Rodgers is only 1 out of every ~7 throws that Rodgers completes over Brady. 1 of 12 for Manning.

Unless i did that wrong.

I don't think that's too bad considering our leading receivers haven't cracked 6 feet tall since ...Moss?

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Another thing I think gets overlooked around here is the ability of deep receivers to adjust to a throw. When Brady's throw is in the air on a bomb, watching the recent wide receivers trying to make adjustments is like watching the clown acts in a circus. Even with Tyms, a larger and speedy receiver, we saw it. He was beating people downfield and then looking like a drunken sailor as he tried to adjust to the throw.

Gronkowski123 said:

we are always interested in white receivers.

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we are always winning super bowls. does it matter?

Edelman, Gronk, Lafell, Wright and Amendola are all under contract. I'm really hoping we reatain Vereen. Those players combined accounted for 97% of the receptions last year. Are we going to throw ball 800 times next season or something?

This seems to be appropriate for many threads in the offseason

I wouldnt mind adding Hartline, actually. I don't think he will be the answer to the team's deep threat problem, but I do think he is better than people perceive him to be. He has size and experience, if he came on decently low money I would welcome the addition.

patsinthesnow said:

Surprised at the level of hate if he came cheap

He's better than Amendola, no?
He's 6'2, no?

We can't afford a sexy name as WR3 beside maybe Andre if everything worked out.

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I'll take Amendola over him any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

OhExaulted1 said:

Edelman, Gronk, Lafell, Wright and Amendola are all under contract. I'm really hoping we reatain Vereen. Those players combined accounted for 97% of the receptions last year. Are we going to throw ball 800 times next season or something?

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Vereen isn't coming back, and if Hartline is signed Amendola will presumably be cut.

I like Hartline, and I think his production has been held back by Miami's terrible line and Tannehill's bad deep ball. If the Pat signed him, I could see him being more effective than LaFell, and I like LaFell. For me, it would all come down to the money. If they're paying him even LaFell money, I don't think that would be an effective allocation of limited cap space.

BradyFTW! said:

I like Hartline, and I think his production has been held back by Miami's terrible line and Tannehill's bad deep ball. If the Pat signed him, I could see him being more effective than LaFell, and I like LaFell.

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That would be a tall task - LaFell was pretty good this year. He & Brady's chemistry seemed to improve as the year went on, especially in the red zone. Obviously, adding a guy like Hartline doesn't necessarily mess up things, but I'd love to see what Brady can do with the same set of [adequate] weapons two years in a row, and would rank our WR need low.

BradyFTW! said:

Vereen isn't coming back, and if Hartline is signed Amendola will presumably be cut.

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So who's fielding kick-offs and backing up JE as the PR (he fielded like half the punts last year) Who's catching passes out of the backfield when our running game gets no traction? Not going to be Hartline, I'll tell you that.

We go out last year and sign a 6-3 27 year old (Now 28) WR who gets 74 grabs, 953 yards, 7 TD's and oh yeah, he's as good a blocking WR as you're going to find and is only 3.2 mil on the cap this year, we've got as good a slot receiver you can have in Edelman and the best TE in the game along with 6-4 T. Wright who may yet blossom. We might loose Vereen and his 52 catches out of the backfeild, still have a 2nd Rder on the roster and the answer is cut our return guy for a possesion receiver.

A. Johnson doesn't make sense to me either. He had 80+ catches last year from garbage QB's. He's going to command good coin. If he get 5-6 mil that wouldn't surprise me.

I just grow tired of the "next Randy Moss" desperate perceived need of the Madden offense approach. Loose an excellent Safety? Sign a tall WR. Loose a NG/Run-Stuffer? Sign a tall WR. Loose a solid interior Guard? Sign a tall WR.

Ugh. SMFH.

Why are people crying about this? He had a down season but he had 2 1k seasons before that. We don't even know his price tag.

@MaryKayCabot: Hartline will take less $ to play w/ a QB such as #Patriots Brady, will require more $$ to play w/ a #Browns McCown or #Texans Mallet

I'm interested now. If true, great attitude.

OhExaulted1 said:

Ugh. SMFH.

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I agree. This stuff is tiring to read.

Kabot also reported that we made him an initial offer already and he may make up his mind by the end of the day. Guess that would be the end of Amendola.

patsinthesnow said:

@MaryKayCabot: Hartline will take less $ to play w/ a QB such as #Patriots Brady, will require more $$ to play w/ a #Browns McCown or #Texans Mallet

I'm interested now. If true, great attitude.

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Anyone know why he had such a down season? As much as I love what Dola did for us in the playoffs Hartline has had numerous better seasons and is about the same age. If he can come cheap then I think it's a no brainer.

BadMoFo said:

Kabot also reported that we made him an initial offer already and he may make up his mind by the end of the day. Guess that would be the end of Amendola.

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Depends how much of a discount he's willing to take to catch passes from Brady. If he comes in dirt cheap then no reason to not keep Amendola into camp too and have some depth. Ideally Amendola would take a pay cut too though.

If Amendola walks Hartline is not the first guy I look at though it might not be the worst thing in the world. As Exhaulted said you need to get someone to help with KR/PR and underneath stuff. I think you can peice that together and if you get a RB to replace vereen that can catch some underneath stuff and return kicks it solves some of your problems.

Right now the WRs i am looking at the most to replace Amendola if he walks are..

Kenny Britt* My preferred option as i think he can be had for money that does not reflect his ability and though he is kinda big does a lot of slot stuff.

Eddie Royal

Harry Douglas* He is a very close skill set replacement if you are looking for the same kind of skills.

They all come off to me as affordable and reliable #3 options.

I think Douglas is the most likely as he will probably be the cheapest and looking for a 1 year deal which is exactly what the Pats would like to do at this point considering they have money to eat from Amendola.