Reading between the lines, the Pats have really been hurt by the lack of legit WR depth in recent years. We relied on Deion Branch to be a third wideout in playoff games. Tiquan Underwood played real snaps. Last year we had no one behind Welker, Edelman and Lloyd, and we were really limited when Edelman was injured. Even more embarrassing, none of the receivers could return kicks, forcing us to use McCourty.
Jones and Hawkins are similar-caliber players, though Jones is probably better and more physical. They're both better than Deion Branch at this stage of his career, or Donte Stallworth off the street. Even Jenkins is probably an upgrade over Branch. The two rookies hopefully will be. Four of these new guys -- Hawkins, Jones, Dobson and Boyce -- are faster than the wideouts we had last year.
BB's thought process seems to be to try to upgrade those matchups against nickel and dime CBs by putting legit NFL receivers, if not stars, at the end of the roster. It's dull, but it makes sense.
