Deion Branch...

[fester]

They could give him a no signing bonus contract and then cut him at the latest possible date which would still avoid a cap ahit.

He needs to be taught a lesson. Rub his face in his poor decision to leave.

Why be a douche --- it is counterproductive. The Patriots have established a good reputation of being a place where veterans who have a couple of decent years of situational play left in them are welcomed and will be treatly well. It increases that team's talent base, stabilizes the locker room, increases the aggregate hunger as these guys want rings, and probably improves the talent/cap spent ratio as they are willing to sign for a touch less than they would otherwise take because they know that the Pats offer an excellent chance at a ring, and the environment is good.

Why piss that reputation and its attendant benefits away?

 

[JSn]

I wasn't really around for the Branch era. Does he offer anything that the top 3 don't?

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Why be a douche --- it is counterproductive.

AHH a motto that we can all live by....LOL

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I wasn't really around for the Branch era. Does he offer anything that the top 3 don't?

25 catches in 2 Superbowls...

Branch was on the same page with Brady, and knew how to get open, and is very quick, If healthy he is better than either Lewis or Galloway.

 

[Deus Irae]

I wasn't really around for the Branch era. Does he offer anything that the top 3 don't?

In his prime, he'd have been a perfect receiver to line up with Moss and Welker. He excelled in the short and intermediate game, and his rapport with Brady was similar to what we see with Brady and Moss.

 

[JSn]

In his prime, he'd have been a perfect receiver to line up with Moss and Welker. He excelled in the short and intermediate game, and his rapport with Brady was similar to what we see with Brady and Moss.

Do you think he could legitimately come in at this point, if healthy (not to be confused with "magically young again") and compete for the #3?

 

[Deus Irae]

Do you think he could legitimately come in at this point, if healthy (not to be confused with "magically young again") and compete for the #3?

I'd look at him more as the #4 receiver, myself. I've still got Moss/Welker/Galloway. It's just a matter of his health, really. Really, you could use Galloway/Branch much like they used Gaffney/Stallworth, in the sense of having them subbing for one another a fair amount, depending upon the playcalling.

Branch would be great as the second 'slot' receiver in a 4 wide formation, assuming he can still make most of his cuts. I haven't seen him running this exhibition season.

 

[italia44]

Someone recently mentioned something I found brilliant>Might have been one of our studious posters.It's about the term:
"Patriot Routes"......Doug Gabriel,Chad Jackson,Dante Stallworth and Joey Galloway all couldn't do it.......they couldn't adapt their speed skills to "Patriot Routes".

Branch could and I'd love to see him back,even just as a slot receiver behind Welker.

 

[BritPat]

Branch was probably the best route runner in the league in his time here, and had an outstanding burst and quick twitch. Not sure if he still has it, but if so he'd make a fine addition.

 

[lurker1965]

Joe Andruzzi, Dan Klecko, Ty Law, are some of the recent ones.. Greg Spires had many productive years with Tampa.

Vinatieri, Asante Samuel, Wiggins

There aren't many, but they do exist.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

When do we come to reality and conclusion that if you leave or were cut from the Patriots you ain't comng back - Law,McGinest are two of many examples and Banta-Cain was a very rare exception.

If Branch goes anywhere I would expect the Rams to pay him,they need a WR seriously.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Someone recently mentioned something I found brilliant>Might have been one of our studious posters.It's about the term:
"Patriot Routes"......Doug Gabriel,Chad Jackson,Dante Stallworth and Joey Galloway all couldn't do it.......they couldn't adapt their speed skills to "Patriot Routes".

Branch could and I'd love to see him back,even just as a slot receiver behind Welker.

Joey Galloway couldn't do it? rofl, we're not even through with the preseason yet and you've already decided that?

BTW, I hate to burst your bubble, but Patriots WRs run the same routes as everyone else. Of the three guys that you listed other than Galloway, two of them are currently out of the league and the other guy is buried on Denver's 3rd string and caught 1 pass last year. It had nothing to do with "Patriot Routes", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean- they just weren't any good.

I don't mean to be a ****, but the fact that some people can seriously propose such a stupid concept is mind-boggling to me.

 

[WhiskeyBreath]

If they can get Branch on the cheap I say go for it. We all know Brady loves to throw to the guy because they had a great understanding of each others game.

 

[italia44]

Joey Galloway couldn't do it? rofl, we're not even through with the preseason yet and you've already decided that?

BTW, I hate to burst your bubble, but Patriots WRs run the same routes as everyone else. Of the three guys that you listed other than Galloway, two of them are currently out of the league and the other guy is buried on Denver's 3rd string and caught 1 pass last year. It had nothing to do with "Patriot Routes", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean- they just weren't any good.

I don't mean to be a ****, but the fact that some people can seriously propose such a stupid concept is mind-boggling to me.

Wow....talk about absurd.......there's way,way,too much heatstroke in la-la land.

 

[fester]

BTW, I hate to burst your bubble, but Patriots WRs run the same routes as everyone else. Of the three guys that you listed other than Galloway, two of them are currently out of the league and the other guy is buried on Denver's 3rd string and caught 1 pass last year. It had nothing to do with "Patriot Routes", whatever the hell that's supposed to mean- they just weren't any good.

I don't mean to be a ****, but the fact that some people can seriously propose such a stupid concept is mind-boggling to me.

while the route trees are the same across the entire league, the concepts and execution of routes are different between teams. For instance the option tree that is activated by a pre-snap read by both the QB and the WR seeing the ILB taking away the hook zone may differ between teams. That is probably the "Patriots Routes" that everyone is talking about --- what route on what read...

 

[mgteich]

Of course he could. If your goal was winning games and the Super Bowl, who would you rather have on your squad: Branch or Edelman.

Do you think he could legitimately come in at this point, if healthy (not to be confused with "magically young again") and compete for the #3?

 

[BradyFTW!]

Wow....talk about absurd.......there's way,way,too much heatstroke in la-la land.

Hahaha nope, 72 and sunny here. Nice ocean breeze too.

 

[BradyFTW!]

while the route trees are the same across the entire league, the concepts and execution of routes are different between teams. For instance the option tree that is activated by a pre-snap read by both the QB and the WR seeing the ILB taking away the hook zone may differ between teams. That is probably the "Patriots Routes" that everyone is talking about --- what route on what read...

Definitely, and a WR who can't make those reads isn't a very good WR. The team-to-team difference is severely overstated by the people who emphasize it- it's another skill-set that WRs need to develop to excel.

When WRs fail here, it's been repeatedly shown that it's because they're just not very good. When's the last time a Patriot played better for a subsequent team than he did for the Pats? If it was because they couldn't handle "Patriot Routes", you'd see a WR leave New England and succeed somewhere else from time to time- instead, without exception, every WR that we've seen fail in New England in recent years has failed everywhere else he's gone too.