Indeed, consider the overall record and it's no comparison.
Seems like we have some keen fantasy players on this thread.
Has nothing to do with any of that.
-Brown (pre Belichick)
-Patten (Cleveland)
-Caldwell (Chargers
-Gaffney (Eagles)
-Stallworth (Eagles)
-Welker (Dolphins)
-Moss (Raiders)
-Amendola (Rams)
-Lafell (Panthers)
-Cooks (Saints)
-Hogan (Bills)
-Gordon (Browns)
We’ve gotten fantastic production out of WR’s. Just we tend not to draft them. Which is the point. You can’t say oh because we’ve had a good passing game that means the drafts have been good.
Compare that list to the Belichick draft list.
-Deion Branch (2nd round)
-David Givens (7th round)
-Bethel Johnson (2nd round)
-PK Sam (5th round)
-Chad Jackson (2nd round)
-Matthew Slater (5th round- really ST)
-Brandon Tate (2nd round)
-Julian Edelman (7th round)
-Taylor Price (3rd round)
-Jeremy Ebert (7th round)
-Aaron Dobson (2nd round)
-Jeremy Gallon (7th round)
-Malcolm Mitchell (4th round)
-David Lucien (7th round)
-Braxton Berrios (6th round)
-N’Keal Harry (1st round)
I don’t really need to tell you which list is better and which one most people would associate those players as being trademark Patriots players. We’ve made 6 picks in the first or 2nd round and only Branch was a hit. Then Edelman was our real diamond in the rough that we actually developed. Only with him he didn’t become anything until 2013 which was his 5th season. So we actually didn’t even get real production out of him until he was passed his rookie contract. Then Givens was the only guy that did a thing for us and he only had 3 decent years and was out of the league after 5.
Now for the Steelers since 1998 they had Hines Ward, Troy Edwards, Plaxico Burress, Antwaan Randle-El, Santonio Holmes, Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Emmanuel Sanders, Markus Wheaton, Martavius Bryant, Juju Smith-Shuster, James Washington all on rookie contracts putting up at a minimum Givens numbers and then going passed 1000 yard status into super elite territory (way past Edelman and Branch). Considering how expensive WR can be, you start to see why there is real value in getting that much production out of your drafted talent. It’s looking like you can add Clayton Claypool to that list to.