Are the Patriots undermanned at WR again?

[JoeSixPat]

Given Stallworth's contract alone he would have had to prove himself absolutely indispensable to justify that salary - and given the fact that the Browns were willing to pay him what they did, there was no chance of renegotiating with him

That being said, Stallworth was not used as a deep threat WR last year - that job fell to Moss and only Moss - and there were consequences to that both in terms of the coverage Moss drew and his fatigue factor.

But in the worst case scenario, if we go into this season without a credible deep threat WR (i.e. if Jackson can't step up) we're no worse off this year than last assuming Moss remains healthy.

We will have to deal with the same consequences of his over utilization in general and a deep WR unfortunately - and should he tweak a hamstring or worse, we're currently without a credible deep threat backup.

So that potentially would constrain our game - but here again, we dealt with that in 2006, and we're far better off now with Welker as a short range WR than we ever were with Caldwell.

No doubt, without Moss drawing coverage, Welker would have a tough time putting up similar numbers (he could do it, a la Troy Brown in 2001 - but he'd be taking a lot more lumps and wouldn't have as good YAC numbers either) but for me, the issue here is one of depth, and a concern of overworking Moss.

 

[mojocaster.com]

My take is we have the best split end in the NFL, the best slot reciever in the NFL and a pretty good flanker in Gaffney.

What he said!

 

[RayClay]

You always need at least 5-6 all pros at receiver.

 

[outhere]

But at this position, you can make a great case that this team is #1 in the NFL.

Yes you can, and that makes the subject of this thread an absolutely retarted question.

 

[patchick]

You always need at least 5-6 all pros at receiver.

Naturally!

Isn't it odd that people seem to be concerned about the depth at WR, yet bashed the Pats for "wasting" a pick on a backup QB?

 

[Kontradiction]

Naturally!

Isn't it odd that people seem to be concerned about the depth at WR, yet bashed the Pats for "wasting" a pick on a backup QB?

Yes, they call these people fairweather fans or bandwagon fans. We seem to have a lot of them here. They generally do not know a whole lot about the team and happened to join in October or November 2007.

 

[Deus Irae]

Naturally!

Isn't it odd that people seem to be concerned about the depth at WR, yet bashed the Pats for "wasting" a pick on a backup QB?

Not really. Brady has proven to be very durable throughout his career, and Belioli thought enough of Cassel to cut Testaverde loose last season. Moss has missed 3 games in 2 of the past 4 seasons, Jackson's had his issues since being drafted, Stallworth was let go, and I think people still question exactly what the team has in Gaffney.

I'm not saying that people should be worrying about WR depth in May, but I don't see the correlation with the QB position.

 

[primetime]

Stallworth was barely playing by the end of last year. Gaffney had become the de facto starter.

 

[goldenaleus]

Think about the "again" in the title of this thread. It presumably refers to a repeat of 2006, when the top 3 receivers for week 1 were:

Reche Caldwell
Doug Gabriel
Troy Brown

...with Bam Childress and a gimpy rookie Chad Jackson.

Today we're looking at:

Randy Moss
Jabar Gaffney
Wes Welker

+ Chad Jackson, Kelley Washington and Sam Aiken.

Where's the "again"? That looks to me like a wholesale change from one of the weakest receiving corps in the league to one of the strongest. The only loss from last year's record-setting crew is Stallworth, who was the #4 WR by the end of the season.

More like:
2007
Moss/Gaffney/Welker

+Stallworth/Washington/Brown

2008
Moss/Gaffney/Welker

+Washington/Aiken/Jackson/CJ Jones/Slater

I listed the current 08 WR not including UDFA which may come down Aiken/Slater/Jones being dropped by Sept.

After the 08 starting 3 WR, it is an unknown that compared with 07 more in particular with the 4th WR. but I can wait to see how the 2nd tier of WR pans out this summer.

 

[tombonneau]

The next two are Washington and Jackson. I guess there's a little uncertainty there but Washington has been a viable WR before; he should know the offense and seemed like a good worker last year so there's no reason to worry about him as a backup IMO.

IMO, the signing of Aiken and the drafting of Slater speaks VOLUMES about Washington's role next year. I think you'll see Aiken & Slater as gunners, and Washington working exclusively at WR.

As far as undermanned, I'd say only if Jackson shows absolutely ZERO. But if he shows even average ability at WR they are more than fine. Top 5 unit in the league.

 

[RayClay]

IMO, the signing of Aiken and the drafting of Slater speaks VOLUMES about Washington's role next year. I think you'll see Aiken & Slater as gunners, and Washington working exclusively at WR.

As far as undermanned, I'd say only if Jackson shows absolutely ZERO. But if he shows even average ability at WR they are more than fine. Top 5 unit in the league.

I'm only worried they won't find enough playibg time for Jackson. They need to find out what they have there soon.

 

[tombonneau]

I'm only worried they won't find enough playibg time for Jackson. They need to find out what they have there soon.

Well, if he fills Stallworth's role -- even when his PT diminished towards the end of the year -- that should be a decent enough sample size to evaluate him.

 

[Deus Irae]

Stallworth was barely playing by the end of last year. Gaffney had become the de facto starter.

This is a bit misleading. Yes, Gaffney had become the starter. However, to say that Stallworth was barely playing is not entirely accurate. Gaffney became the starter in week 9, if you go by the NFL.com stats. He had 24 catches in those last 8 games, of which he started 7. Stallworth didn't disappear, though. He had 20 receptions in that same timespan, which was nothing special, certainly, but was also only 6 fewer than he had in the first 8 games.

This was followed up in the playoffs, with Stallworth pulling in 8 catches to Gaffney's 4.

 

[aztecafut]

This is a bit misleading. Yes, Gaffney had become the starter. However, to say that Stallworth was barely playing is not entirely accurate. Gaffney became the starter in week 9, if you go by the NFL.com stats. He had 24 catches in those last 8 games, of which he started 7. Stallworth didn't disappear, though. He had 20 receptions in that same timespan, which was nothing special, certainly, but was also only 6 fewer than he had in the first 8 games.

This was followed up in the playoffs, with Stallworth pulling in 8 catches to Gaffney's 4.

Thats a very good point you make. I think a lot of us think he disappeared simply because we expected a lot more from him. I know I did. Which makes me wonder if there was something going on between him and Brady. It seemed a lot of times he would be open but Brady wouldn't go to him. Brady's favorite receiver used to be the open one. This last season it was clearly Moss and Welker. Especially Moss, no matter how covered he was at times.

 

[tombonneau]

Thats a very good point you make. I think a lot of us think he disappeared simply because we expected a lot more from him. I know I did. Which makes me wonder if there was something going on between him and Brady. It seemed a lot of times he would be open but Brady wouldn't go to him. Brady's favorite receiver used to be the open one. This last season it was clearly Moss and Welker. Especially Moss, no matter how covered he was at times.

Not for nothing because I like the guy, but I don't think it's any accident that Stallworth is going on his fourth team in four years.

His production, while not bad, has never matched his salary.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

The only guy we lost was Stallworth and he didn't do THAT much last season. Gaffney seemed to overtake him towards the end.

Assuming that we don't have significantly higher injuries at WR this year, we should be fine. I see a bigger role for Washington and Jackson catching the low lying fruit that went to the bottom dweller (gaffney/stallworth) last year.

 

[RoughingthePasser]

No.

Last year we had some surplus BUT we got a good eval of what worked best for us. Keep in mind the TE's/FB/RB's etc. that we can utilize too.

I'm anxious to see Thomas and Jackson step up and make some plays.

I'm more anxious to see the effects of Capers, Bryant, Merriweather and our new LB's.

 

[SavioKid]

I think we summed it up:

EVERY PATS fan = the WR corps is fine / no problem / depth is there...

Thread originator = Undermanned on the WR corps.

The nays have it!!

Seriously, Jackson is the unknown for the WR corps in that will he be a great 3rd / 4th option this year or a draft bust ?!?!?....We'll see , I'm betting he shines this year..

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Name one team that if we could swap our WR core man of man you would do so.

E.g they get Moss, Welker etc, and we get everyone of their WRs.

 

[NEPatriot]

don't we have a second speedy WR on our roster.?