In 2004 Deion did not drop a pass.
According to KC Joyner, Branch dropped 3 passes in 2004, with probably half the attempts of 2005, in which he dropped 8. In 2005, his drop % still placed him in the top 15 of about 90 receivers surveyed. More importantly, Deion was 9th best in the league at getting Wide Open in 2004 (2 steps or more), 4th best at avoiding good and tight coverage, had the highest completion percentage of any receiver in the league, and the 7th most yards per attempt. Combining all this info, Deion got open and caught passes better than any receiver in the league in 2004 (Torry Holt is probably best overall because of his longterm performance).
In 2005 Deion dropped several. I do not see how Givens can be blamed for that.
I haven't had the chance to review the '05 book, since it's not out yet. But looking at '04, a year most would say was Givens' best with the Pats, there is some interesting info: Givens was 62nd out of 87 qualifiers among WRs at avoiding good coverage and blanket coverage. IOW, he was bottom tier at the important task of Getting Open. As a result, his completion % was an ugly 49.3, 55th in the league, and his yards per attempt was 44th in the league. Basicly, Givens wasn't good. How do I see this translating to 2005? Probably teams reviewed the tape just like Joyner, saw that Givens doesn't get open, and designed their game plans to blanket Branch.
What was so underwhelming about Givens' performance in 2005??
That has yet to be seen. But if it was like 2004 (my guess is it was worse), he simply wasn't good.
Why is it that Branch has had more success with Givens in the lineup than
without Givens in the lineup???
Probably because the alternatives were worse.
I am arguing that Deion is not a Top 10 receiver. Therefore, he does not deserve to be paid as a Top 5 receiver ($12 million in guaranteed money is Top 5 money for a wideout) with a year left on his contract. Where is the injury risk discount?? 12 million in guaranteed money with a year left on the contract, is not a discount. Brady's deal included an injury-risk discount (that is, Brady took less than what he was worth because he passed on the injury-risk contract to the Pats two year early). Seymour, Green, and Light all gave the Pats an injury-risk discount with their deals. Where is Branch's??