Brady admits he wouldn't throw to receivers he didn't trust

[Fixit]

Are people here honestly this soft and jilted over him leaving?

Yup.

 

[captain stone]

It does screw with ability to draft or trade when your QB will totally and unpredictably choose who to totally ice out.

No it doesn't...Little Billy just needs to stop drafting/acquiring WRs who FECKIN SUCK.

 

[50-yard-line]

The other issue is it makes it hard to draft a receiver. You have no way of knowing Brady will trust him. Brady wanted established vets at the end, but they didn't always work out either and they take much more of the cap.

How do you keep him happy. Can't draft receivers, the ones you have are going to get older and lose a step. What do you do?

You give him Godwin and Evans, apparently.

 

[upstater1]

Tom Brady admits he wouldn't throw to some receivers he didn't trust

This disappoints me a little because though he said Bill agreed with him, what could he have done as a coach. Put in a receiver he thinks will help the team, but Brady won't even look at him or put in lesser receivers Brady would at least look at.

That to me definitely puts the teams failure last year a lot on Brady's shoulders. Not all, but if you aren't using all your tools then you are less likely to succeed.

This discussion could go on forever, but for me, the proof is in the pudding.

The Patriots drafted between 8-10 receivers over the years, and Brady trusted some of those guys and had great success with them: David Givens, Deion Branch, Julian Edelman, Mitchell.

In fact, Mitchell's catches in the 2nd half against Atlanta were a huge key to the greatest victory in the history of football. Go back and watch that 2nd half, & you'll see how much trust Brady had in the rookie.

Now look at the guys he didn't trust: Aaron Dobson, Josh Boyce, Taylor Price, Chad Jackson.

Brady couldn't work with them. Didn't trust them. These guys went to NFL teams to work with other NFL QBs with whom they could build better relationships than with the notoriously hard-to-please Brady... and they did... what?

The proof is in the pudding. These receivers were NOT VERY GOOD. No wonder Brady didn't trust them.

 

[NE_Zealot]

Cool. The man was instrumental in winning six world championships for this franchise. I don’t care if he didn’t trust a bunch of rookies last year. The offense was a car wreck and any QB would have struggled IMHO.

 

[upstater1]

Also, this notion that the Patriots resisted drafting receivers because Brady is notoriously hard to please is questionable at best.

Consider, the Steelers have had such great success drafting receivers over the years: Diontae Johnson, James Washington, Smith-Schuster, Emanuel Sanders, Antonio Brown, Mike Wallace, Santonio Holmes. Must be because Big Ben is easier to work with?

Or is it because the Steelers actually spent 3x as many premium picks (first four rounds) on receivers than the Patriots did in the last decade and a half?

The Steelers have had so many WR busts over the years, players who couldn't work with Big Ben, or anyone else. But they keep bringing in as much talent at the position as they can, because they know, they will only hit 1/3rd of the time at that position. Look at the busts:

Sammie Coates, Dri Archer, Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton, Limas Sweed, Willie Reid, Fred Gibson, Plaxico Burress (for where he was drafted, he was a disappointment).

That' a lot of draft capital wasted.

I don't think the Patriots hit rate is necessarily bad over the last 20 years. It was just really bad over the Dobson, Price, Boyce, Jackson period, which lasted a span of 5 years.

The Patriots, however, simply don't expend draft picks on WRs like other NFL teams do. Brady is a QB. You can bet your butt he notices these things.

 

[TheRainMaker]

It isn't about being a mind reader. It's about knowing a complicated offense.

Part of the offense is knowing what the defense is doing. Tom expects you to see it as he does after the snap.

 

[carmelo15]

From what I have read a few years ago there is a max of 2h of on the field work which includes warmup, conditioning and stretching. There is no contact allowed (i.e. no blocking or pass rush), players are not even allowed to wear shells for most of those activities and while 11v11 happens it is at a much lower speed.

Given all the information offensive rookies have to absorb and this being their first time actually running routes I really don't see much point in suggesting that Brady and any rookie WRs could have built up a substantial amount of a headstart.

At that point given the restrictions they would be much more working on the big picture of the offense and not the little nuances that Brady expects.

OTA is basically a meet and great with little football going on

 

[carmelo15]

Also, this notion that the Patriots resisted drafting receivers because Brady is notoriously hard to please is questionable at best.

Consider, the Steelers have had such great success drafting receivers over the years: Diontae Johnson, James Washington, Smith-Schuster, Emanuel Sanders, Antonio Brown, Mike Wallace, Santonio Holmes. Must be because Big Ben is easier to work with?

Or is it because the Steelers actually spent 3x as many premium picks (first four rounds) on receivers than the Patriots did in the last decade and a half?

The Steelers have had so many WR busts over the years, players who couldn't work with Big Ben, or anyone else. But they keep bringing in as much talent at the position as they can, because they know, they will only hit 1/3rd of the time at that position. Look at the busts:

Sammie Coates, Dri Archer, Martavis Bryant, Markus Wheaton, Limas Sweed, Willie Reid, Fred Gibson, Plaxico Burress (for where he was drafted, he was a disappointment).

That' a lot of draft capital wasted.

I don't think the Patriots hit rate is necessarily bad over the last 20 years. It was just really bad over the Dobson, Price, Boyce, Jackson period, which lasted a span of 5 years.

The Patriots, however, simply don't expend draft picks on WRs like other NFL teams do. Brady is a QB. You can bet your butt he notices these things.

This is what happens when the FO knows they can give Brady trash outside of 1 or 2 guys in still win SBs

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Perhaps BB should have drafted better at WR instead of reaching on college projects who were nowhere near the best available WR on the board.

 

[captain stone]

...I don't think the Patriots hit rate is necessarily bad over the last 20 years. It was just really bad over the Dobson, Price, Boyce, Jackson period, which lasted a span of 5 years...

The Jackson - Boyce period described above consisted of 8 drafts, not 5...So the suckiness has lasted a lot longer - basically from 2003 onwards - than it appears...

 

[DarrylS]

How do you think a normal day of OTAs looks like ?

It is about becoming familiar with the Pats Offensive system and the Pats culture, and Brady was not part of it.. not to say this is the biggest factor, but it is a factor.

I do not criticize Brady for not doing this, as family is more important, but remember several years ago he, Edelman and other receivers would get together for off season work?? Montana??

 

[Doctor DDS]

For the past 10 years the Steelers have had better WRs and RBs yet have scored on average 50 less points a year than the Pats. And while Brady is clearly better than Big Ben maybe the offensive system has actually been pretty good and throwing to receivers you can trust and who understand the system is actually a decent idea.

 

[Nunchucks]

For the past 10 years the Steelers have had better WRs and RBs yet have scored on average 50 less points a year than the Pats. And while Brady is clearly better than Big Ben maybe the offensive system has actually been pretty good and throwing to receivers you can trust and who understand the system is actually a decent idea.

Obviously throwing to receivers you trust is better, but sometimes you just got to go with the guy who is open.

 

[luuked]

It is about becoming familiar with the Pats Offensive system and the Pats culture, and Brady was not part of it.. not to say this is the biggest factor, but it is a factor.

I do not criticize Brady for not doing this, as family is more important, but remember several years ago he, Edelman and other receivers would get together for off season work?? Montana??

Based on the restrictions under the CBA I think you are overestimating how much value Brady's presence would add - particularly for rookies. They are literally allowed 2h of practice time on the field including warmup, stretching and conditioning work.

As absurd as it sounds there is a good chance they get more than twice the time working on routes in one afternoon with Brady in Montana (or where ever).

And those private throwing session make sense farther down the road for younger players once they at least kinda absorbed the fundamentals of the offense. Only once they have a solid foundation it makes sense for Brady to come in and point out nuances that he likes.

Same for film study. The mistakes rookies and newer players will make early during OTA times can be ironed out with McDaniels and Hoyer because they will be more general. The more adapt players become in the offense the more value will sitting down with Brady give them to get little things right that often make or break plays.

At least that is how I see it but those are all opinions so YMMV.

 

[lancerman]

So the real question is, after 6 SB wins, 9 SB appearances, 13 AFCCG appearances, 3 MVP’s, twice as many playoff win as the 2nd place guy, the most wins of all time, multiple NFL records.... do we really trust the judgment of Tom Brady on who to throw the ball to?

 

[sean10mm]

Malcolm Mitchell is basically the ultimate refutation of the idea that cranky old Tom Brady won't throw to young guys.

It was even reported after the Super Bowl (Mitchell might have told the story himself) that he had a string of bad practices down the stretch (on top of his knee problems causing him to miss time!), and Brady made a point to tell him that he trusted him and that he just needed to calm down and take things a play at a time. Shockingly, Brady didn't freeze the guy out the second he had a bad day.

Then Brady targeted him over and over again in the 4th quarter in the middle of the most improbable comeback in sports history.

Mitchell of course delivered, because Brady accurately judged his quality as a player.

Being a rookie didn't get him frozen out of the offense for the simple reason that he actually knew his damn job.

 

[Marko]

Tom will need to simplify things IMO

But I’ve also noticed guys with immense talent (Moss, Welker, Gronk, Hernandez, Gordon, AB) never had those “learning curve” issues.

Or Brady trusted them, it’s a 2 way street.

A quarterback needs to trust the players that the coaches put on the field. This COULD BE a better strategy than forcing throws to very injured players and to RB's, while essentially ignoring the other receivers on the field.

100%! Also, trust is built.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Assuming the season does go ahead , I am sure a lot of Pat's fans will watch the first bucs game to see how brady plays

I'll probably watch every Bucs game. We won't get many more chances to watch Brady play, not going to waste em.

 

[BradyFTW!]

The team won 6 superbowls. Tom Brady has been an integral part of that team and the greatest QB of all time, but the question was asked and I answered. Manning had to throw to guys who came off the street and was successful. We saw the Eagles last year pull in all kinds of JAG receivers during the season and still be successful.

Sometimes you got to work with what you got and make the best of it. Brady used to do that, but not last year

The 'still successful' Eagles went 9-7 last year, while the Pats went 12-4 with Brady throwing to equally bad receivers. If the Eagles were still successful last year, then the Pats were not just successful, but considerably more successful.