I agree that this sidetrack on Amari Cooper does not get us to where we want to be.
Here's the thing: I do not think I evaluate talent better than you, English Patriot. I
do think that the Foxborough brain trust evaluates talent better than either of us.
When folks here start trotting out the names of the most amazing [name the position] EVAH on this board, I tend to tune it out.
Likewise, when I see people saying "OMG we have so many needs, where to start???," in a season when we've just clinched HFA, I start wondering what a mediocre team would look like to you guys.
Of
course you always want to get better. No doubt. However I love the balance and depth we've shown this season. I would not hate having the next great receiver waltz into camp. Going for the highest-priced, diamond fretboard les paul does not, however, make you a guitarist, and going for the "proven talent" at the NCAA level does not make him an outstanding receiver in NE's game.
When you say "Imagine LaFell, Edelman, Gronk, AND Amari Cooper," that sounds great. But imagine them if Cooper turns out to be really good against NCAA talent and not against NFL talent in an NFL system. What have you lost? Usually not
that much in a rookie year, if you structure it (as you should) as a "prove-it" year. But you're still looking at a couple of million at least, then more in "dead money" as you go forward. Maybe you've lost some depth on D or some in-season replacement money (how would that have affected us this year???) Maybe you go with a JAG instead of a more capable starter -- or backup -- on the O-line. You get the picture. Of course the big downside is the crap-shoot that is the fantasy skill-positions - it may all be for nothing. How many rolls in the crap-shoot do you give up for that one "surefire" receiver? You can only make so many "all for nothing" deals.
And my boy's not even from Rutgers.
There are guys who are paid to decide the odds of success in each case, the cost of trying to make the bright shiny new toy work, etc. As pointed out above, the brain trust - to this point - has really not gone that route. When they try to, it hasn't worked out.
If they try again... whether the name is Amari Cooper or Devin Funchess or somebody else whose stock soars in the 3 weeks before the draft... You can count on me to say "meh they're smarter than me" until they admit it didn't work. (Chad Jackson, we hardly knew ye.)
But I'm not a big one for obsessing on one name at the college level. I'm not a big fan of tearing out my eyeballs when the Pats "reach" in the draft according to ESPN or NFLN or some magazine I picked up at CVS. They draft the guy they think will have the best ROI/has the best upside, based on who is on the board and whether
they think that guy will be there for the next pick (knowing that they are drafting against 31 other real GMs and scouting staffs, not against glossy magazines or ESPN or NFLN).
I didn't see many people with Gronk or Hernandez on "their" draft boards before we picked them in the same draft. That was BB going in a
completely different direction and once again smashing the expectations at that point in the draft.
So it's not that I'm saying that the magic solution won't be that one big-name wideout. I just don't think it's likely, picking somewhere in the late 20s and especially picking at #32, where we
should be picking this year
.
I also don't see this as an underperforming bunch or one devoid of talent. NO WE DON'T have ONE dominant wideout, and yes we could use some firepower. I think something above the JAG level and something below the "big splash" level is a good call - I'd also hope we start to get more out of the guys we do have but never see on the field.
Give Brady time, and he'll make a decent wideout out of a cast-off, and a star out of a decent wideout. Don't give Brady time, and you'll have a "weapon" sprinting downfield past the man he just beat with a double-move, and Brady on his back. Sort of a binary way to phrase it, but that o-line talent is huge to me, as is the ability to stop the other guy, and that starts with the probably very expensive Darrell Revis.
