Another draft bust.
Besides Branch and Given,s when has a NE drafted a WR actually worked out? Andelman was a QB who was developed into a slot WR to replace Welker. Slater is only special teams.
Name me a drafted college WR who has stuck on this team?
Pittsburgh could put names on a dart board and hit on a stud blindfolded.
You may not like what he says, but can you really argue without being a homer? These are their highest picks, and while Edelman turned out to be good, it took a long time, it almost wasn’t to be, and I could include a long list of late rounders as well.
-Bethel Johnson
-Chad Jackson
-Taylor Price
-Aaron Dobson
-Josh Boyce
-Malcolm Mitchell (though the injury risk has been well covered)
As
@Triumph stated, you need to go back to Givens and Branch to find guys that made any type of contributions and weren’t complete disasters.
I’ll say this though: I think the Patriots are very reluctant to draft a WR high because they have no idea how these guys will adapt to a very complicated offense, so there’s a greater bust potential that these physically gifted freaks in the first/early second round will just be wasted talents since they can’t grasp the mental game. Brady is a perfectionist and very demanding quarterback. I think Chad Jackson really made them pause and reevaluate.
Fortunately, they’ve solved this problem throughout the years by identifying undervalued talent around the league and made some great free agent signings, buying low and getting huge returns. Welker and Hogan are the best examples. Amendola is another, though he didn’t come cheap.
As for Pittsburgh, it really is a different system with more of a schoolyard offense. Despite the great WRs, they often have a middling offense because they turn the ball over way more than the Patriots and have a ton of “bust” games where nothing works. Their offense is really inflexible and dependent on the defense, whereas the Patriots are more adaptive and require more versatility and intelligence from their players. The Patriots offense is always better than the Steelers offense - they score more points, lay fewer duds, and turn the ball over way less. So, there is certainly a price the Steelers pay in their love for athleticism and highlight reel receivers. You may also want to consider that Burress, Holmes, Wallace, and Brown are also selfish turds with huge egos, with Brown’s surprising reveal coming last year while seething after a win that he didn’t get the ball enough and constantly *****ing about everything that wasn’t designed around padding his stats...but that’s just what they got on camera. I imagine he’s a real team guy when those locker room doors are closed (smirk.)
