Britt released

[long distance]

Jacob Hollister is a TE so he's not part of this equation

Cody Hollister, the WR, is on IR

In current situation J Hollister is quite significant part of Brady's receivers that have to connect as best as possible.. He might be lined up off line a lot early..

 

[long distance]

I think it’s more likely that we sign UDFA Johnny B Goode. 3 yr starter from Never Heard of Me U. Undersized, productive, injury issues that plagued his college career. Has been working at Lowe’s since he went un-drafted, loading lumber and throwing rocks has kept him strong and pliable.

Is that you, Johnny?

 

[patfanken]

We quite possibly have the weakest WR corp in the history of the Brady/Belichick era and some people on here continue to act like Dez Bryant is the antichrist....

It’s time to bring him in for a workout.

Ridiculous statement - Think back to 2001 where I bet you couldn't name the #3 WR for the Pats behind Brown and Patten, or the fact that all the Pats TE's didn't have 20 receptions between them that year. Or the 2006 season that was about a half dozen ifs from another superbowl with Reche Caldwell as their #1, a guy who was out of the league 2 years later

Edelman, Hogan, CP and Dorsett is about an average Patriot WR group on paper and could be better than that by the end of the season.

Another thing to consider is that in recent years the RB position has become so much more of a factor in the passing game.

Another thing to consider is that Gronk, while not a true WR, has just as much of an impact on pass defenses as ANY elite WR.

FINALLY, another thing to consider is that the Pats passing offense has never been one that needs the "great" individual WR to succeed. Winning the "individual battles" has never been what this pass offense has been about. This is a precision operation where its more important to be where you are supposed to be, than how often you can out muscle the other guy on a jump ball. "good" and "dependable" are 2 adjectives that would best describe Patriot WR's over the years. The fact is you don't need to pay $16MM/yr to get guys like that.

I believe its not by chance that the Pats traded Cooks. Clearly he was going to be a $16MM/yr guy (whether you think it was justified or not), and the Pats (under BB) are never going to pay that percentage of the cap on the WR position.

I think I have higher expectations from CPatterson than most here. While I don't expect him to be another Brandon Cooks, I think he can be a legitimate field stretcher, and effective short area receiver, as he showed last week

As forBryant, I don't see that much of a difference between him and Decker, at least not enough to bring him in unless its a "one or another" deal. Their skills sets are too similar at this stage of their respective careers

 

[mcmurtry86]

In current situation J Hollister is quite significant part of Brady's receivers that have to connect as soon and as best as possible.. He might be lined up off line a lot early..

In context of taking reps away from WR he is not. They might split him out (as they do often with TE) but they're not turning him into a WR. So the concern that he wouldn't have time get reps is moot. In 2 TE sets he will get chances and when Gronk is not on the field, Hollister will get chances.

 

[holyredeemer]

I wonder if Tom knew this was all going to go down when he had his presser today. Quite a few questions about Britt if I remember correctly, and an awkward response about him (Brady) not being here during the off-season.

 

[fnordcircle]

We quite possibly have the weakest WR corp in the history of the Brady/Belichick era and some people on here continue to act like Dez Bryant is the antichrist....

It’s time to bring him in for a workout.

Hello, I'd like to introduce you to Reche Caldwell, our #1 WR. But don't worry, this Doug Gabriel guy is probably going to work out.

 

[long distance]

In context of taking reps away from WR he is not. They might split him out (as they do often with TE) but they're not turning him into a WR. So the concern that he wouldn't have time get reps is moot. In 2 TE sets he will get chances and when Gronk is not on the field, Hollister will get chances.

Id guess they will use him some like WR in first weeks. You can call him what you want but if he is lined out in 2 or 3 TE sets (and id guess we will see both) he is just a big receiver. With Gronk likely sitting out you do have a point that there should be enough space for him on the field w Brady on Friday. Still, it was about targets and he is certainly part of that equation..

 

[varjao]

They need to trade for a WR. People here are worried about the first 4 games only, putting too much stock on Edelman when he returns, let's remember he is coming from an ACL surgery and is 32. I know he is tough and is showing great shape in practice but real games are a different thing. There is a real possibility he won't be that explosive for a while and that's the key on his game.

This is looking like that year with Dobson, Tompkins and Boyce.

 

[Todd Bradley]

Ridiculous statement - Think back to 2001 where I bet you couldn't name the #3 WR for the Pats behind Brown and Patten, or the fact that all the Pats TE's didn't have 20 receptions between them that year. Or the 2006 season that was about a half dozen ifs from another superbowl with Reche Caldwell as their #1, a guy who was out of the league 2 years later

Edelman, Hogan, CP and Dorsett is about an average Patriot WR group on paper and could be better than that by the end of the season.

Another thing to consider is that in recent years the RB position has become so much more of a factor in the passing game.

Another thing to consider is that Gronk, while not a true WR, has just as much of an impact on pass defenses as ANY elite WR.

FINALLY, another thing to consider is that the Pats passing offense has never been one that needs the "great" individual WR to succeed. Winning the "individual battles" has never been what this pass offense has been about. This is a precision operation where its more important to be where you are supposed to be, than how often you can out muscle the other guy on a jump ball. "good" and "dependable" are 2 adjectives that would best describe Patriot WR's over the years. The fact is you don't need to pay $16MM/yr to get guys like that.

I believe its not by chance that the Pats traded Cooks. Clearly he was going to be a $16MM/yr guy (whether you think it was justified or not), and the Pats (under BB) are never going to pay that percentage of the cap on the WR position.

I think I have higher expectations from CPatterson than most here. While I don't expect him to be another Brandon Cooks, I think he can be a legitimate field stretcher, and effective short area receiver, as he showed last week

As forBryant, I don't see that much of a difference between him and Decker, at least not enough to bring him in unless its a "one or another" deal. Their skills sets are too similar at this stage of their respective careers

Yikes, you spent how many minutes typing all of that up because I said this could “quite possibly” be one of the weakest receiving corps in Patriots history.

Newflash: it “quite possibly” could be.

We’re not even past Week 3 of preseason. Hopefully it doesn’t, but this group could get a lot uglier as the season goes on if improvements aren’t made (trade) or attempted (Bryant, and gulp, LaFell).

 

[maineman209]

Is that a poem?

Koan.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Talking of Dez, this is a good quote by Romo:

"But Dez's rare trait was over his head. I've never really seen another guy, maybe Calvin Johnson, but I've never really seen a guy be able to do the things he does. He still has that capability. Dez is never actually covered even when he's covered. That's a rare trait. If he was singled up, if you could put the ball in a certain spot he could always get it. There's not really another guy that I ever played with who could do that. It kind of simplifies the offense a little bit in a sense. If Dez was kind of by himself, you'd just throw 15-20 yards, above his head 3 yards and however you want to guard him it doesn't matter. You can't go get that ball, he can. I worked hard with him at that because that throw requires timing, precision. You gotta throw it hard. But then when you get it, it moves the chains pretty quickly.
​

Some good analysis here too - looks like his route-running has deteriorated some:

Analysis | Is Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant still elite?

But at the end of the day, he's a real target that defenses would have to seriously account for, even if he isn't what he once was.

And FWIW:

 

[sambam94]

sucks that the GOAT is hardly ever giving a set of good WRs..mainly because they don't know how to draft them

 

[TB_Helmet]

Yikes, you spent how many minutes typing all of that up because I said this could “quite possibly” be one of the weakest receiving corps in Patriots history.

Newflash: it “quite possibly” could be.

We’re not even past Week 3 of preseason. Hopefully it doesn’t, but this group could get a lot uglier as the season goes on if improvements aren’t made (trade) or attempted (Bryant, and gulp, LaFell)

To be fair you said “the worst”, not “one of the worst”. If you had qualified it you probably wouldn’t be getting so much pushback.

 

[Todd Bradley]

To be fair you said “the worst”, not “one of the worst”. If you had qualified it you probably wouldn’t be getting so much pushback.

Like that makes the pushback any less egregious.

The Brady/Belichick era is 18 years old.

So if this group is ranked 15th worst, that’s very damn near close to the worst WR group this era has ever had.

Why does this board like to waste time splitting hairs over minuscule nonsense?

 

[upstater1]

What scares me is that you also lose players at that position during a season. This is crazy.

 

[DaBruinz]

Why not just IR him? Odds are someone is getting banged up later in the year. He looked great at OTA.

He has a very low dead cap so maybe that helped the decision. But his overall cap hit wasnt bad

Can't IR him yet and have him be able to return. Can only do that after cut-downs. The only way to do it now is for him to be given an injury settlement, but that requires a 7 week minimum wait...

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Mack moves ….

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

What scares me is that you also lose players at that position during a season. This is crazy.

Like Jules...older now and always always injury prone..he will miss some games. WR is beyond thin...incoming trade at the deadline?

 

[ashley]

Wow, what once was a position of strength is getting very thin...Our receivers are dropping like flies.

 

[KDPPatsfan85]