Trade Wes now?

[DaBruinz]

Negative Nellie. Sheesh. How about the flip side...

-Lloyd had the best year of his career 2 years ago under McD and TB is now throwing to him.

-Branch is a highly functional #4 option in this offense and has a great repore with TB

Branch isn't a highly functional #4 receiver. Branch doesn't do special teams. That's an issue.

-Gaffney is coming off his best season and also has a great repore with TB.

Yep. Gaffney had such a great Rapport with Brady that his best year was 38 catches.. Not to mention that Gaffney would be the 5th receiving option behind Welker, Lloyd, Gronkowski, and Hernandez.. Gaffney has some ability, but I think people are overstating that ability and the rapport he has with Brady.

-Stallworth is a solid bottom of the core WR. 25-30 catches is a reasonable expectation.

Is it a reasonable expectation for a guy who also needs to be able to compete on special teams? Not to mention that he'd actually be the 7th or 8th receiving option behind Welker, Lloyd, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Woodhead, Ridley/Vereen, and possibly Branch/Edelman.

Trading WW would weaken the offense but keep in mind Gronk and AH were TBs #2 and #3 targets so it's not like their offense would be totally screwed w/o WW.

While the offense wouldn't be "totally screwed" one of the reasons for the success of those three is that teams couldn't cover all of them.. If teams tried to double up Welker, that usually left Gronk and Hernandez 1-on1 and they tore apart defenses. When they doubled up Gronk, Welker and Hernandez had the field day.. When they tried to just go zone, one of them found a way open.

 

[borg]

Wes' numbers will be coming down. Next year he won't be negotiating from such a lofty perch.... Especially since Brady will be pulled by mid 3rd quarter of every game due to lopsided scoring imbalance. Gronk will be in the upperdeck signing boobs in the 4th quarter.

 

[Patriot Missile]

Wes' numbers will be coming down. Next year he won't be negotiating from such a lofty perch.... Especially since Brady will be pulled by mid 3rd quarter of every game due to lopsided scoring imbalance. Gronk will be in the upperdeck signing boobs in the 4th quarter.

Or it could be his numbers are going up? Defensive game plans may put more priority on Gronk,Lloyd and Hernandez and just accept the short stuff over the middle as a win instead of giving up gargantuan plays to the big guys over the ceiling or Lloyd taking the top off the defense. Take a chance tackling Gronk in the open field with a cb or stop a 5foot 9 wr in the slot? Personally if I'm the d coordinator I'm trying to deny Gronk the ball every time.

Will Brady really be pulled in the 3rd quarter with a lead? Haven't seen any evidence to support that.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Even without Chad and Gonzalez, I can't fit all the receivers onto the team that deserve to make an NFL roster. The way I see it, either someone needs to get injured in TC, we cut Stallworth, we cut Edelman or we trade Welker. Cutting Stallworth earns us nothing. Cutting Edelman hurts our depth at WR, KR/PR and DB. Trading Welker... well, if a team like Jacksonville offers a 2nd rounder, I would take it and move on.

No thanks. Wes Welker is a prime weapon in our offense. It just gives defenses one more guy they need to worry about. With Lloyd here, that helps open up the offense even more. Do they cover, Wes, Lloyd, Gronk, or Hernandez? Pick your poison.

Trading big time players who are already comfortable in your offense while you can still hold onto them is a mistake. Trading away branch sent us back for the entire next season. We got a 1st round pick in return, but would having Branch on key plays in the 4th have yielded us an AFCCG win instead of a choke dropped pass by Reche Caldwell?

Hard to say of course, but Brady's window is getting shorter not longer. I say let Welker play. If he has another great year and we win the Superbowl, great. If he has a mediocre season on the other hand, his asking price goes down and he's a year older. In the end it's all about the rings.

It's possible to tag Welker a second time and do a trade, ala the Cassel situation. At that point we'd get a 2nd instead of a 1st, but it's well worth it for another year of Welker. We're not exactly hurting for cap space either. So let's win now!

 

[SyN65]

Bumping this thread in light of recent performances at training camp.

I know it's early but:

-Lloyd looks like the real deal
-Hernandez looks primed for a break out year
-More depth than ever before @ receiver position
-Edelman has looked fantastic

This brings me to my next point. Is it time to trade Welker?

Edelman is too good of a weapon to be sitting on the bench. I know he is used on special teams but anyone who has seen Edelman in camp this year knows hes been the best WR not named Brandon Lloyd. I've seen few WR's shiftier than Edelman and he's electric with the ball in his hands. He's also only 26 and plays the same position as Welker.

I don't think the Pats are going to re-sign Welker to a long-term deal anyways, so this is probably the last year he'll be a Patriot. I appreciate everything he does/did for the Patriots but I think it's time to move on. It's a business decision really. Pats need to re-sign Chung and Hernandez and keep the youth movement going, securing young talent to keep the Patriots competitive in the future. Welker is the best slot WR in the league but the Pats have enough offensive weapons (way too many actually...lol) to offset the production that could be lost by trading Welker.

I could see the Pats pulling a Richard Seymour and trading him right before the season starts, let the WR's battle it out in TC and preseason games and see what they've got. If the Pats felt like they could get really good value for him I say let him go.

 

[PP2]

Bumping this thread in light of recent performances at training camp.

I know it's early but:

-Lloyd looks like the real deal
-Hernandez looks primed for a break out year
-More depth than ever before @ receiver position
-Edelman has looked fantastic

This brings me to my next point. Is it time to trade Welker?

Edelman is too good of a weapon to be sitting on the bench. I know he is used on special teams but anyone who has seen Edelman in camp this year knows hes been the best WR not named Brandon Lloyd. I've seen few WR's shiftier than Edelman and he's electric with the ball in his hands. He's also only 26 and plays the same position as Welker.

I don't think the Pats are going to re-sign Welker to a long-term deal anyways, so this is probably the last year he'll be a Patriot. I appreciate everything he does/did for the Patriots but I think it's time to move on. It's a business decision really. Pats need to re-sign Chung and Hernandez and keep the youth movement going, securing young talent to keep the Patriots competitive in the future. Welker is the best slot WR in the league but the Pats have enough offensive weapons (way too many actually...lol) to offset the production that could be lost by trading Welker.

I could see the Pats pulling a Richard Seymour and trading him right before the season starts, let the WR's battle it out in TC and preseason games and see what they've got. If the Pats felt like they could get really good value for him I say let him go.

It's difficult to trade franchised players because of the massive hit they have on the cap.