Denver about to make Walker a rich man.

[Dank Franklin]

Word is that Denver and Javon Walker have agreed on a five-year, $42 million contract including $15 million guaranteed.

I can't imagine this will be too pleasing for the Pats front office in regards to potential negotiations with Deion Branch.

 

[zippo59]

I just don't think Branch is in the same league as Walker, ability wise.

 

[Patriot Missile]

27 years old about to enter his prime. He's getting paid,knee injury or not I think he's got plenty left in the tank.

 

[D-cleater]

I just don't think Branch is in the same league as Walker, ability wise.

I couldn't disagree more. Their don't tell the story, but they are comparable

BRANCH

Year G GS No Yards Avg Lg TD 20+ 40+ FD
2002 13 7 43 489 11.4 49 2 6 2 22
2003 15 11 57 803 14.1 66 3 9 2 40
2004 9 9 35 454 13.0 26 4 6 0 27
2005 16 15 78 998 12.8 51 5 13 1 51
TOTAL 53 42 213 2744 12.9 66 14 34 5 140


WALKER

Year G GS No Yards Avg Lg TD 20+ 40+ FD
2002 15 2 23 319 13.9 30 1 6 0 14
2003 16 3 41 716 17.5 66 9 12 4 27
2004 16 12 89 1382 15.5 79 12 19 7 63
2005 1 1 4 27 6.8 9 0 0 0 2
TOTAL 48 18 157 2444 15.6 79 22 37 11 106

Walker has more touchdowns, but he is also on an offense with much less weapons than we have. however..... while Branch has only played in five more games than Walker, he has

- 56 more regular season catches
- 300 more yards at 4 catches a game
and, the stat I like the best..
-34 more first downs.

For Walker to even come close in production he would need to average more than 5 catches a game, 7 first downs, and at least 60 yeards in each of the five games.

This aint even counting the postseason.

Put that together with hard work, attitude and dedication, it's clear to me that Walker is not in Branch's league. Give me Branch any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

 

[Johnny Z]

I just don't think Branch is in the same league as Walker, ability wise.

I'm a Packers fan. That clown averaged something like 39 catches a year.

And Deion Branch's playoff stats dwarf Walker's. Big game, Branch shows up; big game, Walker disappears. Defenses just take him out of it. In his one good year he ran up a whole bunch of meaningless stats.

 

[patsox23]

The Patriots will be helped by the general consensus - however flawed or misleading - that Walker is a "true" #1, the fact that he's a Pro Bowler and that he's, well, BIGGER and therefore - again, flawed and misleading - more "dangerous" and dominating. Fine with me. Deion will sign for a lower-tier deal than that.

 

[BelichickFan]

This may be a problem with Branch, we'll see, but it does underscore that although Chad Jackson is still a big ???, paying him second round money is a better gamble than trading our #2 for Walker and having to do a huge deal like this.

 

[the taildragger]

The Patriots will be helped by the general consensus - however flawed or misleading - that Walker is a "true" #1, the fact that he's a Pro Bowler and that he's, well, BIGGER and therefore - again, flawed and misleading - more "dangerous" and dominating. Fine with me. Deion will sign for a lower-tier deal than that.

:ditto: couldn't agree more..."perception" dominates.

I felt Givens would be hurt by playing with #12, but although it should have, it certainly didn't.

But DB is a perfect "fit" as the X in our passing scheme -- he doesn't fit nearly as well on most other teams. While he's clearly not as dispensible as Givens was, he's not necessarily the "type" of receiver who will command a big market.

Denver was EXTREMELY desperate for a receiver -- and Walker was pretty much the last quality FA on the market. DB will finally get a fair deal, but I doubt he'll get much of a bump from Walker...

paying [CJ] second round money is a better gamble than trading our #2 for Walker and having to do a huge deal like this.

:ditto: yeah, relative to Denver, the past week has been a big net plus for us. Denver is one of the 3 or 4 teams I really keep an eye on. The $$ they paid him just floored me -- I guess some of this is because of the cap bump, but it still seems like a major financial reach. when you consider the full "present value" of CJ's long term potential, we just blew Denver out of the water (at least on paper).

 

[VJCPatriot]

The donks are paying over 8M per year for Walker's services? Are you sure that's not a 6 year contract?

Well I am now RELIEVED we went the drafting route and got Jackson instead of dealing with the Packers. Who wants to pay 8M per year for Walker in Pats uni, raise your hands... Yeah.

 

[JoeSixPat]

I just don't think Branch is in the same league as Walker, ability wise.

Neither has proven it on a long term basis - Walker's one big season was bigger than Branch's one big season.

Walker is coming off an injury - Branch is not.

A the end of the day, Walker's contract is going to influence what Branch's agent demands

...lets just wait to see what the "real" numbers are, knowing that there's certainly a dummy year or two in there, as well as incentives