Having a player or players who are good at certain things makes a team better. If the Patriots had a corner who was an outstanding blitzer, they would win a game somewhere along the line that they otherwise would have lost. That doesn't mean the need the corner blitz to win, or that getting that player is worth sacrificing other parts of the team, or that corners ability to cover, for example.
I'm sure there would be value to the Patriots to add a receiver who is a deep threat out of the blue, however how much of a benefit is it, and is it worth the cost is the question, one which BB seems to answer every year, as not much and no.
The deep pass is a rare occurrence that really isn't a big factor in winning football games consistently. Yes it is exciting and makes novice fans think we need one of those but in reality, its just a luxury.
The top 5 yardage receivers last year, caught 16 deep passes (more than 30 yards beyond the los) COMBINED. Not one a game each, but one a game combined between all of them, which is less than one every 3 games each.
It is also notable that 3 of those top 5 receivers team's did not make the playoffs, and the 2 who did won 1 game.
So by the Patriots adding a 'deep threat' first, under a cap, they must sacrifice something else, something that BB evidently deems more valuable.
Secondly, the offense will benefit by maybe an extra big play every month or 2, at the expense of the receiving corps they built for the other 600+ pass plays.
