First-year successful receivers

[slam]

Jabar Gaffney came in mid season, had a quiet regular season then had two 100 yard games in the playoffs. We should hire him as a WR scout of some sort.

Austin Collie came in and was immediately useful, though he was certainly on his last legs.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Which receivers have the Patriots traded for or acquired as FAs in the Brady era who did well their first year with the Patriots, e.g. Hogan, Moss? Which haven't?

I'm wondering how long it takes a receiver to acclimate from another system to the Patriots' system.

The other successful ones have been mentioned.

DA was a success his first year even though he was hurt.

Tim Dwight was good. So was Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell their first year here.

Even Doug Gabriel did ok at the start. He had 24 catches in his first 8 games here, got drunk, was late for practices and was waived.

We know Donald "Don't know the plays", Hayes was a epic fail. So was Ocho Stinko. Those dudes were clueless.

 

[Jlaff]

Brandon LaFell (2014): 74 rec., 953 yards, 7 TD's

Brandon Lloyd (2012): 74 rec., 911 yards, 4 TD's

Moss and Welker in 2007 as well. If we're counting TE's, you can lump Gronk and Hernandez's rookie seasons in there as well as Bennett's season last year.

I knew Lloyd made a few great grabs while he was here (before immediately hitting the turf), but I didn't know he was that productive.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Cooks will be a fan favorite here

 

[rookBoston]

Reggie Wayne never caught on and took the easy out.

 

[supafly]

Jabar Gaffney came in mid season, had a quiet regular season then had two 100 yard games in the playoffs. We should hire him as a WR scout of some sort.

Austin Collie came in and was immediately useful, though he was certainly on his last legs.

It was reported that Austin Collie was at the team facility as early as 5am and didn't leave until dark, every single day for over a month, in an attempt to not only practice with the team, but also to get side/film work with Brady and McDaniels.

He put in an insane amount of time trying to learn the playbook, and still only ended up with a total of 6 catches on 11 targets. I wouldn't consider him a first year WR success, although he did prove to work hard and help the team in a very limited role, which is better than many others.



Austin Collie Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

Brandon LaFell (2014): 74 rec., 953 yards, 7 TD's

Brandon Lloyd (2012): 74 rec., 911 yards, 4 TD's

Moss and Welker in 2007 as well. If we're counting TE's, you can lump Gronk and Hernandez's rookie seasons in there as well as Bennett's season last year.

Agreed on all except Lloyd. Sure, he looked good on the stat sheet but he didn't pass the "eye test" (seemed to always fall down after easy catches, and make those easy catches look hard). Verdict that he was also an extremely weird guy who didn't get along well with teammates. I believe he was out of the league after 2012.

By comparison to Lloyd, Reche Caldwell is another guy who looked pretty good on the stat sheet with 760 his yards in whatever year that was when his eyes bugged out of his sockets (2006?) but it was really a painfully underwhelming season performance.

 

[Brady6]

Malcolm Mitchell - 16 games, 39 catches, 65% catch ratio, 476 yards, 4 touchdowns (includes playoffs)

Malcolm Mitchell Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com

Chris Hogan - 18 games, 55 catches, 1012, 63% catch ratio, 6 touchdowns (includes playoffs)

Chris Hogan Stats | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[goheels22002]

Yes, of course Moss and Welker in 07, but so was Stallworth (46 catches). I actually didn't realize it until now, but the greatest passing offense of all time was headlined by 3 newbies.

We have a legitimate right to be excited about Cooks in this offense. If you ever watch his highlights where you can see the entire field, he just gets anywhere he needs to go by running past guys so quickly and effortlessly... like Bo Jackson in Tecmo Bowl.

Brandin Cooks 2016 highlights

 

[RobertWeathers]

Reggie Wayne never caught on and took the easy out.

That one still doesn't make sense

 

[Galeb]

I knew Lloyd made a few great grabs while he was here (before immediately hitting the turf), but I didn't know he was that productive.

 

[luuked]

The thing to keep in mind with Cooks is that our coaches got an extensive look at him for a few days during joint practices. With many other players you don't get that before signing them so its more of a crapshoot in terms of fit.

I'd argue that seeing him in practice for a few days is more informative than 1-2 seasons of game tape.

 

[The Gr8est]

Reggie Wayne never caught on and took the easy out.

Kind of like with Joseph Addai.

Must be a Colts thing.

 

[Huckleberry1]

I think Cooks transition is going to be seamless, barring injury we are going to see a monster season from him. And he's going open things up for every skill player on the field with him. The only downside to this trade is the difficulty they are going to have extending him, which I have serious doubts they will be able to get done. Even then however it's going to be worth over the next two seasons.

 

[1960Pats]

Brandin Cooks 2016 highlights

My excitement over Cooks is tempered slightly by the fact that most of those highlights came against the weaker conference.

 

[stinkypete]

The other successful ones have been mentioned.

DA was a success his first year even though he was hurt.

Tim Dwight was good. So was Jabar Gaffney and Reche Caldwell their first year here.

Even Doug Gabriel did ok at the start. He had 24 catches in his first 8 games here, got drunk, was late for practices and was waived.

We know Donald "Don't know the plays", Hayes was a epic fail. So was Ocho Stinko. Those dudes were clueless.

Doug Gabriel was a disaster. Remember his crucial drop in the Jets game in 2016?

We have all missed the ultimate WR bust, Joey Galloway.

 

[eternal]

Deion Branch (2002) 43 catches 489 yards.

Terry Glenn (1996) 90 catches (a rookie record at the time) 1186 yards.

 

[TheFlyingWedge]

Awesome shot of Lloyd. Nobody could argue that he didn't have good hands.

 

[wpdougie2180]

Torry Holt is another veteran WR signing that didn't work out

 

[stinkypete]

Torry Holt is another veteran WR signing that didn't work out

Went on IR and was released on injury settlement, though he looked done in camp and preseason.