OT: revisiting the Branch trade in 06

[Brotherblues]

Revsiiting 19 year old trades. Good ****.

Crazy thing is, it's a good time to look back at it. It took the franchise 19 years to see the last vestige of everyone involved. Who'd have thunk in '06 that trade would directly lead to the hiring of BB's sucessor in '24, the subsequent disaster, and the big fat reset of '25?

With Mayo gone, we finally have a good enough ending point for the story.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Seeing how we have posters starting treads about toilet paper this was the best of the bunch.

The toilet paper thread got a bunch of responses, to my amazement. So I started to read some posts to see what it was about, and it was about toilet paper. I couldn't bring myself to keep reading.

 

[stinkypete]

I remember flipping the pick in 2007 when Joe Staley was heavily mocked to the Pats was controversial. He turned out to be a 3x All Pro and 6 time Pro Bowl LT. Mayo in 2008 was one of those dreaded "draft risers" and turned out to be an underwhelming pick. Clady was also heavily mocked to the Pats and should've been the pick as well. He also turned out to be a 3x All Pro and 4x Pro Bowl LT. Correction: they took Brandon Merriweather with the pick from the Branch trade.

Branch for a 1st and 4th was highway robbery. He was a high end WR2 at best who was propped up by Brady and the deep WR corps surrounding him.

The use of the picks was the real mismanagement. Mayo was a perfectly cromulent player, but those picks could have been packaged to move up for Revis. You want to talk about how one guy can change the outcome of a season? Put Revis on those 2010 and 2011 teams. Staley could also have been had, as well as Ben Grubbs and Eric Weddle.

 

[reflexblue]

The toilet paper thread got a bunch of responses, to my amazement. So I started to read some posts to see what it was about, and it was about toilet paper. I couldn't bring myself to keep reading.

It was about the Patriots and toilet paper

 

[captain stone]

Also remember that the 1st in 2007 didn’t just net us that SF pick for Mayo; it netted us a 4th rounder in 07 that was subsequently flipped for Moss. Now of course, we could have traded any of our other picks that draft for Moss and have had no impact, since Meriweather was the only good player we got from the draft...

Yes he was; which only proves just how ****ing HORRIBLE their drafting "acumen" was that year. Because Stomper Meriweather ****ing Sucked, the ****ing clueless ****ing non-disciplined ****ing punk ghetto thug.

If we had Branch in 06 and win, do we even feel the need to rebuild our receiving corps with Moss and Welker in 07? The cap space? A whole lot of what-ifs there.

Branch would've been gone, so WR help still would've been needed.

...I remember flipping the pick in 2007 when Joe Staley was heavily mocked to the Pats was controversial. He turned out to be a 3x All Pro and 6 time Pro Bowl LT. Mayo in 2008 was one of those dreaded "draft risers" and turned out to be an underwhelming pick. Clady was also heavily mocked to the Pats and should've been the pick as well. He also turned out to be a 3x All Pro and 4x Pro Bowl LT. Correction: they took Brandon Merriweather with the pick from the Branch trade.

...The use of the picks was the real mismanagement. Mayo was a perfectly cromulent player, but those picks could have been packaged to move up for Revis. You want to talk about how one guy can change the outcome of a season? Put Revis on those 2010 and 2011 teams. Staley could also have been had, as well as Ben Grubbs and Eric Weddle.

Bill's so ****ed-up he couldn't even ****ing draft the right ****ing SAFETY.

Eric Weddle makes the INT that the Miami Stomper didn't.

 

[lancerman]

They have a MUCH better shot at winning the Super Bowl in 06. That said 07 never happens because they absolutely weren't going to go ballistic and get Moss and everyone else they brought in if they won a SB or WR wasn't considered a liability and didn't perceive a need to reload and fix a weakness.

Once you do that you pretty much change so much about the second half of the dynasty that it stops becoming worth it. It's weird to say, but one SB isn't worth disrupting things. For most teams it would be. But a lot of things that went on in the aftermath of 06 and 07 influenced how we approached things going into the 2010's.

 

[captain stone]

They have a MUCH better shot at winning the Super Bowl in 06. That said 07 never happens because they absolutely weren't going to go ballistic and get Moss and everyone else they brought in if they won a SB or WR wasn't considered a liability and didn't perceive a need to reload and fix a weakness.

Once you do that you pretty much change so much about the second half of the dynasty that it stops becoming worth it. It's weird to say, but one SB isn't worth disrupting things. For most teams it would be. But a lot of things that went on in the aftermath of 06 and 07 influenced how we approached things going into the 2010's.

And how many championships did we win with Moss & Welker...?

 

[signbabybrady]

They have a MUCH better shot at winning the Super Bowl in 06. That said 07 never happens because they absolutely weren't going to go ballistic and get Moss and everyone else they brought in if they won a SB or WR wasn't considered a liability and didn't perceive a need to reload and fix a weakness.

Once you do that you pretty much change so much about the second half of the dynasty that it stops becoming worth it. It's weird to say, but one SB isn't worth disrupting things. For most teams it would be. But a lot of things that went on in the aftermath of 06 and 07 influenced how we approached things going into the 2010's.

Anyone who's ever watched Back to the Future knows not to mess with the space time continuum.

I will point out that I believe the Moss courtship dates as far back as 05. We played the Raiders and I believe Brady told Moss then that he'd love to play with him. Or he might have went to try to find him and just missed him but that was the message he left or something like that. Seeds were planted.

 

[lancerman]

And how many championships did we win with Moss & Welker...?

0. But you have to consider what all of that led to. Even though Troy Brown was the prototype, Welker really changed our slot game and that created a template for Edelman who was crucial. If Welker isn't there and successful for us, is Edelman getting dragged around for years to see if he can fit that role, are we going after an Amendola type to replace a Welker that didn't exist. If we aren't set at WR in 2010 are we really going after Gronk as a TE. All of our draft positions change as well. So you can't even guarantee half the rosters we fielded now.

 

[Real fan 02]

They have a MUCH better shot at winning the Super Bowl in 06. That said 07 never happens because they absolutely weren't going to go ballistic and get Moss and everyone else they brought in if they won a SB or WR wasn't considered a liability and didn't perceive a need to reload and fix a weakness.

Once you do that you pretty much change so much about the second half of the dynasty that it stops becoming worth it. It's weird to say, but one SB isn't worth disrupting things. For most teams it would be. But a lot of things that went on in the aftermath of 06 and 07 influenced how we approached things going into the 2010's.

I thought that as well until moss said in his own words he was since 2005 trying to find a way to play with Brady. He went to the team hotel in 06 when we played the Vikings to meet with Brady.. I believe this was inevitable.. they made magic together that 2007 season was just spectacular what they did together. You mentioned the 2010s.. we had some dam good offensive years.. too. We should have gotten more than 1 championship in the 2010s..

 

[Real fan 02]

Probably. That's how I see it as well. Losing Rodney in 06 and the defensive collapse in Indy after scoring 34 points were the ultimate reasons they didn't get back to the SB but gotta wonder if Deion would have gotten open on that final drive.

We complain about our current WRs but Jabar Gaffney, Reche Caldwell, and a pretty much done Troy Brown was not much better. Branch would have been WR1 by far.

Don't forget about Doug Gabriel who was on the roster earlier that season as well. Graham and Watson were big factors in the passing game that year.. Gaffney ended up being a reliable player for Brady. Caldwell (Rip) made that big catch in the divisional against the superchargers.. Brown made the play to get the ball back from jammer off the INT..

Ugh... we should have won that season.

 

[Real fan 02]

And how many championships did we win with Moss & Welker...?

****ing highway Hobbs is on Burress in the end zone, assante is to busy thinking about all the 100s he wants to toss up at the foxy lady from his new contract... he missed the INT.. we had 4 ****ing guys on eli and he gets out the sack wtf.. ****ing hated that game!!

 

[TheRainMaker]

Branch for a 1st and 4th was highway robbery. He was a high end WR2 at best who was propped up by Brady and the deep WR corps surrounding him.

The use of the picks was the real mismanagement. Mayo was a perfectly cromulent player, but those picks could have been packaged to move up for Revis. You want to talk about how one guy can change the outcome of a season? Put Revis on those 2010 and 2011 teams. Staley could also have been had, as well as Ben Grubbs and Eric Weddle.

If you had the choice of keeping Branch for one more season (but couldn't franchise tag him in 2007) and won the Super Bowl instead of getting a first round pick, would you take that offer? Too many people and GM's look towards the "future" when they are weakening their team for the present and don't know what you're going to get out of that 1st round pick for the future. Pats drought continued until 2014. Had Branch been offered the fines to be repaid and not tagged in 2007, I'm 99.9% sure he returns in 2006. The two reasons why players want to get paid before their contract expires is because the fear of injury and the dreaded franchise tag.

 

[captain stone]

****ing highway Hobbs is on Burress in the end zone, assante is to busy thinking about all the 100s he wants to toss up at the foxy lady from his new contract... he missed the INT.. we had 4 ****ing guys on eli and he gets out the sack wtf.. ****ing hated that game!!

There were other INTs to be made on that drive...

 

[Real fan 02]

There were other INTs to be made on that drive...

I hated that game from the start... once I saw TB12 walking in a ****ing boot for his ankle I knew we were ****ed.. should have lost the eagles game and Ravens game that year...