If we bring in a WR...the guy has to be an ELITE WR...I am talking +100 balls, +1K yards, and +8TD type of guy....(like Ja'Marr Chase, Justin Jefferson, Puka Nacua, JSN, etc...).
I almost feel like even that would be a waste given how the Maye/McDaniels offense has been evolving - take a look at the targets per player.
We don't have anything similar to Moss/Welker who Brady threw to on almost every play.
Maye spreads the ball out so much our #1 WR (Diggs) only had @100 targets - yet also had 85 catches (yup - he only fails to make the catch 15% of the time!)
Part of the reason that completion rate IS so high is BECAUSE he spreads the ball out so much and even utilizes guys like Boutte and even little guys like Douglas and Rhamonde as legit deep threats.
DCs really just aren't quite sure how to defend that - they'll put their best CB (or more) on Diggs and then Diggs might go an entire game without even getting a target while Douglas and others go on a tear. And as soon as the D adapts to the hot receiver Diggs of course gets his looks and catches almost 9 out of 10 balls.
Spending money on a true elite Moss-esque guy who expects 175+ targets a season - at the expense of all the other receivers we have - is a waste and undermines what makes Maye and the Pats so potent, as odd as that may sound.
Let's put it this way - if Diggs (who I agree may even be better next season) got the same amount of targets as Chase, I don't think he'd even come CLOSE to his 85% completion rate.
He'd be closer to 60% like Chase actually IS - just think of all those catches others would make.
Jefferson is an even better example. He's in that elite category and gets @ 150 targets a season - 50% more than Diggs
And that earned him 84 catches last season
Which is great - but Diggs had 85 catches on just 100 targets. Meanwhile, what happened to all those other targets that an elite WR getting 150 targets would have missed? Well on the Patriots those targets go to guys like Douglas, Henderson, Stevenson etc. - who make the catches the teams who put all their $ on the "elite" receivers leave on the table.
Paying a guy like Diggs is money well spent - but it's better to spread the rest around with quality depth than to "waste" it on a WR looking for 150 - 185 targets a season - all of which makes an offense really predictable and can be its achilles heel.
