Taylor Price Expectations and Role

[Brettlax3434]

Edelman's not playing on the outside. He doesn't have the skillset for it. That leaves Branch/Price/Tate as 3 players battling for 2 spots, and Branch is, sadly, the clearly superior player as of now.

As for Tate, we disagree, because he was a pretty big disappointment in my eyes.

Recievers often take longer then other positions to develope. I don't know if Tate will, but it is far to early to right him off. Last season was basically his rookie year and he had just recovered from a torn ACL. He will be more explosive this year because the injury is further away. He will also have a year of experience and an offseason of practicing instead of rehabing. Again, I don't know if he will ever develope, but I do know his position typically takes time to develope. I would give him a chance before casting him off.

 

[MossWelkowski]

Recievers often take longer then other positions to develope. I don't know if Tate will, but it is far to early to right him off. Last season was basically his rookie year and he had just recovered from a torn ACL. He will be more explosive this year because the injury is further away. He will also have a year of experience and an offseason of practicing instead of rehabing. Again, I don't know if he will ever develope, but I do know his position typically takes time to develope. I would give him a chance before casting him off.

I'm not an NFL coach, but Tate is not fluid. He doesn't have great hands. And his routes are almost robotic and slow.

Thats my take on him. I can't see how he can fix slow and talent. He's not that talented. Price on the other hand LOOKS and has that swag of a good receiver. Tate does not.

Just my opinion. I bet others on here agree.

 

[zipster9]

I'm not an NFL coach, but Tate is not fluid. He doesn't have great hands. And his routes are almost robotic and slow.

Thats my take on him. I can't see how he can fix slow and talent. He's not that talented. Price on the other hand LOOKS and has that swag of a good receiver. Tate does not.

Just my opinion. I bet others on here agree.

Tate reminds me of BenWatson: if the ball is thrown that is catchable, it is not a slam-dunk catch.

Price is 6'1" ran a 4.40 in Combine and supposedly, good hands. BUT, he does not run routes that well. Could be the Patriots playbook is not easy to learn.

I think if he can get some quality time with Brady, get in sync, he can potentially replace Branch. Remember, Branch does not have many yrs left, 1-2 at most. You need a #1 receiver in 2012 draft.

Tate is at best a 3rd-WR..

 

[PYPER]

I agree that Tate didn't have a great year. However, remember he had a serious injury and then reinjured himself during his rookie year. He essentially had two years away from football. It's conceivable that we haven't seen the true Tate yet.

 

[DaBruinz]

I expect Price to supplant Branch as the #2 receiver before mid-season. I liked what he brought a lot more than what Deion showed.

The problem (if it really is a problem) the Pats have now is that they have 1 great all around TE in Gronkowski, a Good pass-catching TE in Hernandez, 3 mighty might WRs in Welker, Branch and Edelman, a very good pass catcing RB in Woodhead, and then Tate and Price. That is a LOT of talent. And there are only so many touches to go around in the passing game. Especially if they really open things up by establishing a running game with BJGE, Ridley, Vereen, and Woodhead.

There are a LOT of offensive weapons now.. Probably the most since Belichick took over. O'Brien and Brady are going to have their hands full trying to keep everyone involved.

 

[DaBruinz]

Tate reminds me of BenWatson: if the ball is thrown that is catchable, it is not a slam-dunk catch.

Price is 6'1" ran a 4.40 in Combine and supposedly, good hands. BUT, he does not run routes that well. Could be the Patriots playbook is not easy to learn.

I think if he can get some quality time with Brady, get in sync, he can potentially replace Branch. Remember, Branch does not have many yrs left, 1-2 at most. You need a #1 receiver in 2012 draft.

Tate is at best a 3rd-WR..

Where do you people get the misconceptions that Price doesn't run routes well. That was one of the huge PLUSES to him coming out of college.

And, as Sciz pointed out in another thread, Tate had the same drop % as Welker. Do you think Welker sucks?

 

[Brettlax3434]

Tate reminds me of BenWatson: if the ball is thrown that is catchable, it is not a slam-dunk catch.

Price is 6'1" ran a 4.40 in Combine and supposedly, good hands. BUT, he does not run routes that well. Could be the Patriots playbook is not easy to learn.

I think if he can get some quality time with Brady, get in sync, he can potentially replace Branch. Remember, Branch does not have many yrs left, 1-2 at most. You need a #1 receiver in 2012 draft.

Tate is at best a 3rd-WR..

I agree to a degree. From what I have watched of the two of them I believe Price is a better prospect and will become a better player then Tate; however, it is premature to give up on Tate as a reciever at this point. Recievers typically take time to develope and he was coming off of a major ACL injury last season.

 

[Patspsycho]

BUT, he does not run routes that well. Could be the Patriots playbook is not easy to learn.

Where do you get that? In the last Miami game he ran crisp slants and fades and was so explosive on the first step, he literally left Vontae Davis in the dust.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I expect Price to supplant Branch as the #2 receiver before mid-season. I liked what he brought a lot more than what Deion showed.

The problem (if it really is a problem) the Pats have now is that they have 1 great all around TE in Gronkowski, a Good pass-catching TE in Hernandez, 3 mighty might WRs in Welker, Branch and Edelman, a very good pass catcing RB in Woodhead, and then Tate and Price. That is a LOT of talent. And there are only so many touches to go around in the passing game. Especially if they really open things up by establishing a running game with BJGE, Ridley, Vereen, and Woodhead.

There are a LOT of offensive weapons now.. Probably the most since Belichick took over. O'Brien and Brady are going to have their hands full trying to keep everyone involved.

Commenting on the bold:

I think they need a 4th WR- a vet, Torry Holt type

07 had ALOT of talent. I wont go through line by line but I would argue that the WR cores (Moss, Welker, Stall, Gaff) goes to 07 while TE core go to 2010.
I need to think about Maroney, Morris, Faulk is better than BJGE, Woodhead and the two kids. Talent- maybe.

 

[Patspsycho]

I need to think about Maroney, Morris, Faulk is better than BJGE, Woodhead and the two kids. Talent- maybe.

Saying Faulk is better than BJGE is saying an orange is better than a banana. Those two serve very different purposes.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Saying Faulk is better than BJGE is saying an orange is better than a banana. Those two serve very different purposes.

I didn't.

Compared units as a whole....

 

[IcyPatriot]

The way Tate dropped balls last year ... I would be surprised if Price did not beat him out. I like others would be happy if Tate improved his catching skills of course ... a tight competition would be best for the team.

 

[PatsFan37]

Welker had almost twice as many receptions as the next most prolific receiver.

I look to them easing the load on Welker and Branch with a combination of RB and TE receptions, with Edelman, and with Price and Tate. I was more disappointed that Edelman was not able to spell Welker than that Tate did not become the target we might like.

One element of this team that dramatically improved post-Moss was the old throw-it-to-the-open-man offense. Getting Welker off the field, or letting him be a decoy, would help that out, as it seems to me he's targeted too often. When that becomes the case, then a good team can take him out of a game and leave the less-practiced parts of the receiving corps ineffective against top competition.

I want to see Patriots ready and practiced with ALL their options having played all their receivers significantly throughout the season so when they play the biggest games, the loss or double-coverage of any one receiver or RB can't stop them.

If Price and Tate are going to be the future receivers, I think they need to split about 60-70 catches between them. More for Tate if Price comes on slow.

The question I have, more than the number of catches Price will make, is how many Welker will make.

 

[DaBruinz]

Commenting on the bold:

I think they need a 4th WR- a vet, Torry Holt type

07 had ALOT of talent. I wont go through line by line but I would argue that the WR cores (Moss, Welker, Stall, Gaff) goes to 07 while TE core go to 2010.
I need to think about Maroney, Morris, Faulk is better than BJGE, Woodhead and the two kids. Talent- maybe.

I have to disagree with your assessment about a 4th vet WR. If you think back, Stallworth was basically riding the bench by the end of 2007. The Pats also didn't have a Gronkowski and Watson was no better than than Hernandez. I think that Price stepping up and forcing Branch into a bench role would be equal to adding another WR.

Until the O-line shapes up, we won't really know what we have.

 

[DaBruinz]

The way Tate dropped balls last year ... I would be surprised if Price did not beat him out. I like others would be happy if Tate improved his catching skills of course ... a tight competition would be best for the team.

Tate dropped 5 balls on 46 targets.. That was the same % as Welker. And Tate was essentially a rookie who was also recovering from an ACL tear.

This is a make/break year for him, honestly. If he doesn't pan out, I'm sure the Pats will find someone else.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I have to disagree with your assessment about a 4th vet WR. If you think back, Stallworth was basically riding the bench by the end of 2007. The Pats also didn't have a Gronkowski and Watson was no better than than Hernandez. I think that Price stepping up and forcing Branch into a bench role would be equal to adding another WR.

Until the O-line shapes up, we won't really know what we have.

I view the need for a 4th WR because I don't have confidence that Branch will play more than 12 games. I like him, but hes not durable a little long in the tooth now and TB needs another WR he has some confidence in on the outside.

Not sure I follow the Branch to the bench in favor of Price statement. If you have 4 WRs and WR4 becomes WR2, you still have two WRs. No?

 

[RobertWeathers]

Tate dropped 5 balls on 46 targets.. That was the same % as Welker. And Tate was essentially a rookie who was also recovering from an ACL tear.

This is a make/break year for him, honestly. If he doesn't pan out, I'm sure the Pats will find someone else.

I do think that WW had a bit of an off year in 2010 as he did seem to drop more passes than normal.

With that said, coming back from his own injury in the time he did warrants a free pass from major criticism IMO. No question he was getting used to playing with that knee again.

 

[DaBruinz]

I view the need for a 4th WR because I don't have confidence that Branch will play more than 12 games. I like him, but hes not durable a little long in the tooth now and TB needs another WR he has some confidence in on the outside.

Not sure I follow the Branch to the bench in favor of Price statement. If you have 4 WRs and WR4 becomes WR2, you still have two WRs. No?

The Pats have 5 WR. Welker, Branch, Edelman, Tate, and Price.

Adding a WR to this group takes away touches from 3 young guys who need them to improve.

Brady said himself that he felt that Edelman got short-changed last year because of the use of the TEs and that they need to use Edelman more.

I see Price surpassing Branch and moving into a starting role. The way he played in that one game last year really stood out to me. Something tells me that he's going to make a similar jump that Givens did. Price reminds me a lot of Givens.

You add to them Gronkowski and Hernandez, two players that Brady didn't have in 2007 and you've got yourself a better receiving corps. Not to mention Crumpler, who is significantly better than Kyle Brady was.

 

[PatsCanDoIt]

Last year Tate put up 24 catches for 432 and 3 TDs. Those are deep threat numbers. I think Price can at least do that. I'm hoping for some Robert Meachem type damage. As in 40s 700s and 5+.

 

[TheSolderKing]

it will vary


WR 3 we will have 2 WR 3