Tate is fine college prospect with no traning camp and one game of experience. It seems very risky to rely on him being a competent starter opposite Moss. And if Moss were injured, I guess we could win by just relying on our running game, even when there is no passing game.
Unless we have a serious improvement at wide receiver, Moss will be double-teamed on every single play.
While Tate didn't have any TC and had one game of experience, you forgot to mention that he had a full year of Film review with the likes of Tom Brady, Randy Moss and Bill Belichick guiding him. And he'll have a full off-season working with Tom to get their timing down. Will it happen? Who knows. But if the Pats think it will, then they do. They are the ones getting paid to make those decisions.
People seem to forget that going into last season the Pats had Moss, Welker and a bunch of question marks. This year is no different, except they have Moss and Edelman. And while Edelman is no Welker, he's proven to be more than capable of being an effective receiver even when playing with a broken arm.
The last rookie receiver they had to break 30 receptions was Deion Branch in 2002. So, expecting Edelman to get to the 60-90 reception plateau as a sophmore isn't unrealistic. Then all they need is someone to step in and get 30+ receptions behind Edelman.
As for Moss getting double-teamed. Good. Let him earn his salary. That being said, He was doubled plenty last year and still managed to get 83 receptions with a bum shoulder..
People need to stop thinking it's the end of the world just because the Pats haven't signed a veteran receiver. They have a thousand times more information than we do on the subject. On Welker's status. On Tate's status.
Heck, for all we know, Welker could be back to start the season. Jerry Rice was able to return in 6 months from his injury, and that was 20 years ago. And the advances since then have been huge.