If Patten gets released...

[MoLewisrocks]

Wow. I'll bet two-thirds of the NFL would have loved to have the Patriots "very weak" receiving corps.

We're holding against Bam, an undrafted rookie, the fact that he couldn't beat out Branch, Givens, Troy, Dwight, and Andre Davis, with something like 37 years experience between them, most as a #1 or #2 WR?

My friend, you have some high expectations for rookies in our system.



Rather well, didn't it? We made the playoffs and won a WC game. Brady led the league in passing yards and finished second in TDs. Branch and Givens were very productive. Troy had his best year of the last several. Givens and Dwight did well enough to get significant contract offers from other teams.

What exactly were you expecting from our WR corps last year? What am I missing? Who was Patten going to replace and improve the performance of? Davis? Okay, maybe. But how many times did he step on the field? Patten would likely have had the same role, run a fly pattern deep and see what happens.

I really have a hard time believing our offense missed Patten last year.

Actually I have very realistic expectations for everyone in our system including UDFA's, particularly at this stage of the season. As things worked out last season beyond Branch and Givens, neither of whom set the world on fire last season, we hardly knew from week to week who we were fielding as WR's once spring turned to fall. Dwight was playing hurt much of the time. Davis was unable to make the squad out of camp, as was Terrell, and you will note he didn't stick past last season. Bethel hung on by his fingernails where he appears to remain dangling because that's about the extent of what he did all season. We only made it as far as we did because in spite of it all we have Brady behind center and he can do more with less than any QB in this league. It remains a shame though that he repeatedly has to.

Bam couldn't crack that nut. May he yet? I DON'T KNOW, and unlike many others here I'm not prepared to assume it is so just because we signed him and he stuck on the 2005 PS. We were paper thin last season, and we've since lost Givens and Dwight to FA. We drafted one of the top selections in a draft dubbed lacklustre for WR, and we signed a player who disappointed in SD as Bethel has here.

If I had to choose today between Bam and Patten, I'd take Patten in a heartbeat based on track record. Contract and heath ammenable, I bet BB would too. David should have some gas left not to mention a score to settle in a system he's familiar with. The way you win each season in the NFL is by fielding the best team you can, not by worrying about whether or not draftees or UDFA's or underdogs with all sorts of imagined upside get an unimpeded path to success.

PS - BB says he's not responsible for what other teams pay FA. It is no reflection of their value to this team.

 

[Brady-To-Branch]

I didn't think he was good enough to make the team his last year here. I'd be OK with a one year, vet minimum, no SB deal. However, as has been stated many times, we'd be looking a our #5 WR, generally a special teams player, or a weekly inactive. I'd much rather fill that slot with a young guy with upside than a fringe receiver on the downslope.

Agreed.

Moreover, as to Patten "knowing the system", based on regular season and playoffs combined, 2001 was Patten's best year, his first with the Pats and he was 27. He's 32 now.

 

[dryheat44]

If I had to choose today between Bam and Patten, I'd take Patten in a heartbeat based on track record. Contract and heath ammenable, I bet BB would too. David should have some gas left not to mention a score to settle in a system he's familiar with. The way you win each season in the NFL is by fielding the best team you can, not by worrying about whether or not draftees or UDFA's or underdogs with all sorts of imagined upside get an unimpeded path to success.

Fair enough. The way you win each season in the NFL is by fielding the best team you can. The way you maintain a winning franchise in the NFL is by not letting your team get old and cutting young players who are unproven in order to sign aging retreads. Young players never get proven if they don't make the team. Patten has rarely had success without Brady. I have a feeling Brady made Givens look much better than he was. I have no doubt that he can make Caldwell into a similarly productive player.

Unless you believe that Patten is a top four receiver on this team, there's no sense in keeping him. Any more WRs kept are either going to be special teams demons, which Patten isn't, or a guy who's inactive most weeks. If the roster spots going to be inactive, I'd rather have a young guy in practice improving, whether it be Childress or somebody else.

The only reason to sign Patten is if somebody gets hurt. If and when that happens, Patten, or a similar guy who can average his 2.5 catches a game, will be waiting by the phone.

 

[primetime]

You guys act like Bam Childress is the next coming of Jerry Rice. He's not. He's a 5'7" guy who barely even played in college.

 

[Flying Fungi]

You guys act like Bam Childress is the next coming of Jerry Rice. He's not. He's a 5'7" guy who barely even played in college.

I think characterizing any of us as comparing Bam to Rice is gratuitous.

Nobody here has done that, nobody here is going to do that about the 2006 Bam Childress.

I want to see Bam get a chance to compete.

I do not want Patten taking snaps away from him or Reche or Chad Jackson. 2006's David Patten has never played for Josh McDaniel's the OC, so him knowing the play book is somewhat misleading.

Why are the Patten supporters convinced that the 32 yr old David Patten is the second coming of the 2001 David Patten?

 

[TNPatsFan]

I look at it this way. Patten is another option as a 3rd or 4th receiver based on his past production with the team. At the very least he is better than Tim Dwight and Andre Davis who were both on the roster last year. There's no reason to think he can't do what they did. So if he's available, then yes, bring him in. He will only make the team if he earns the job through training camp competition, and if he ends up getting cut it's no big deal.

I've seen a lot of Pats fans who seem to have great expectations of Bam. I'm not sure where those come from. Regardless, if we bring in Patten or anyone else and Bam can beat them out for a job, then that's great.

 

[dryheat44]

I look at it this way. Patten is another option as a 3rd or 4th receiver based on his past production with the team. At the very least he is better than Tim Dwight and Andre Davis who were both on the roster last year.

This is opinion. Patten was a bust in Washington last year, before the injury. Some suspect the injury wasn't worth the trip to the IR if he had been producing.

Nobody, I don't think, has great expectations of Bam. I'd love to see him replaced. But having Bam on the bottom of the roster makes a lot more sense than Patten on the bottom of the roster.

Does anybody think for one second that Belichick is going to use a roster spot on a #4/5 WR who doesn't play special teams?