Edelman and Amendola: we should cut ties with one of them

[BradyFTW!]

Nothing wrong with having faith but we had much of that that same faith before this season. I'd like to see them acquire a proven outside WR through F/A or via trade than simply hope Dobson gets better.

Was there? Were a lot of people seriously thinking that Dobson was going to outproduce the per-game stats that he ended up producing? Not trying to be contentious, I just don't remember that being the case. I'm sure there was a vocal and tiny minority of people who were banking on him submitting a rookie season identical to AJ Green's, but those exist for every pick. Same people thought Pat Chung was going to turn into Rodney Harrison in year 1.

The problem with Dobson was that there was only a short period of time where he was both healthy and high enough on the depth chart to make a dent. During that short period of time, he produced at or above the level that anyone could have reasonably hoped for. And I'm saying this as someone who was especially hard on him after all of the drops that he had early on, to the point that I made some ill-advised posts basically saying that I was giving up on him if he didn't catch every ball thrown in his direction for the rest of the season.

But subtract out the games that he didn't play, the Buffalo game (which he left early on with an aggravation of his foot injury) and the Denver game (which he apparently played in, despite never being targeted) and you have the following stat line over 10 games: 36 receptions on 71 targets, for 513 yards and 4 TDs.

Pro-rate that production over 16 games and you get 57 receptions on 114 targets for 820 yards and 6 touchdowns. Don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming that you can shrug away the fact that he was basically absent for a third of the season. Far from it. I'm pointing out that the concern shouldn't be his ability to produce when on the field, based on this year's results. The concern should be his ability to get/stay on the field in the first place. And also the drops, because he had way too many of them, but even that seems to have settled down as the season went on.

As someone who had pretty modest projections for his rookie season (he actually had better per-game production than I was expecting), I'm among those who expect him to be a major asset in his second year. If he works with Brady this offseason and improves his hands so that he's catching some more of those deep balls (which should be totally doable, since every scouting report said that he has awesome hands), we could easily be looking at a 1,200+ yard outside receiver next year with only reasonable improvements to his game. Conversely, we could also be looking at a guy who never improves again and washes out of the league in three years.

That's the nature of the beast, but I will definitely say that people who project Dobson to be a major part of the offense next season have a lot more going for them than pure faith. Dobson showed a lot to be encouraged by this year, and I do believe that he'll be a legitimate #1 outside receiver (think 60+ rec, 1000+ yards, 7+ TDs) next season.

 

[BradyFTW!]

Same thing could have been said about randy moss, you all want "big playmaking wr" then your going to have to take some chances. Love Britt think he could do wonders with Brady and Belichick...plus he went to Rutgers which basically gurantees him a roster spot.

"Taking a chance" means drafting someone. Aaron Dobson is the kind of chance you take. You don't pay out in free agency for a headcase who couldn't even make it in Tennessee, and who, after five years, has never been an impact player in the NFL. That's what teams like the Jets and Raiders do.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

People really want britt that bad?

 

[mgteich]

I agree.

Belichick brought in a bunch of youngsters: Dobson, Boyce, Thompkins, Harrison and Moe.
I suspect that if we compare our production from rookies with other teams, it will turn out that we did well. We'll know what we have in a couple of years.

2013 was the year of turning the page and moving on at the wide receiver position.

We will have another year of Danny and the juniors, hopefully with a healthy Danny (and a healthy Gronk).

There is no question that Belichick that ALL these players are question marks, including Amendola. Sadly, any free agent except Edelman and Collie would only add to the uncertainty.

For me, 2014 is the year to focus on drafting TE's. In addition, we need to deal with the RUNNING BACK situation. We love our improvement in the running game. Yet, we have exactly ZERO signed beyond 2014 and Blount is not even signed for 2014.

"Taking a chance" means drafting someone. Aaron Dobson is the kind of chance you take. You don't pay out in free agency for a headcase who couldn't even make it in Tennessee, and who, after five years, has never been an impact player in the NFL. That's what teams like the Jets and Raiders do.

 

[Claremonster]

Nice! so we're stuck with amendola and we have to keep Edelman.

I think some other team will pay Edelman much more than the Pats are prepared to pay him.

The Amendola signing was a mistake on BB's part. He knew ahead of time that DA was an injury bug.

Also, Edelman wasn't exactly healthy all of the time that he was here either. This was his healthiest year ever.

 

[Brady_to_Moss]

Since DA groin injury he was healthy for the rest of the year but It seemed like a lot of the time brady didn't trust him.

And you have to watch out paying edelman a lot of $$. His first real healthy year

 

[BradyFTW!]

I think some other team will pay Edelman much more than the Pats are prepared to pay him.

The Amendola signing was a mistake on BB's part. He knew ahead of time that DA was an injury bug.

Also, Edelman wasn't exactly healthy all of the time that he was here either. This was his healthiest year ever.

You know how it's always preached to pay for what a player can produce reliably, and not for what he produces only once, and under the best possible circumstances? That dynamic is going to come into play with Edelman here. If someone pays him like he's a 1,200 yard, #1 guy, then sure he's gone.

But, as you mentioned, this year was pretty much the ceiling of what he can do, in a year of A) good health, B) being the #1 option in an offense without a lot of weapons, and C) having Brady as his QB. If he plays ten seasons in a vacuum, he's probably playing this season once.

Now, go back and look at what Welker got last year. I doubt that Edelman gets a whole lot more than that, and if he can be had for Welker money then I think the Pats will re-sign him.

 

[mgteich]

I'm not sure that pats are willing to pay Edelman what Welker got. I'm not even sure an Amendola contract will be offered although that would make much more sense.

Now, go back and look at what Welker got last year. I doubt that Edelman gets a whole lot more than that, and if he can be had for Welker money then I think the Pats will re-sign him.

 

[Claremonster]

You know how it's always preached to pay for what a player can produce reliably, and not for what he produces only once, and under the best possible circumstances? That dynamic is going to come into play with Edelman here. If someone pays him like he's a 1,200 yard, #1 guy, then sure he's gone.

But, as you mentioned, this year was pretty much the ceiling of what he can do, in a year of A) good health, B) being the #1 option in an offense without a lot of weapons, and C) having Brady as his QB. If he plays ten seasons in a vacuum, he's probably playing this season once.

Now, go back and look at what Welker got last year. I doubt that Edelman gets a whole lot more than that, and if he can be had for Welker money then I think the Pats will re-sign him.

Texans or the Browns could see him as a fit. Chargers. Bears. Falcons.