Patriots are signing WR Michael Jenkins

[supafly]

Aiken is 23
DA is 27
Ebert is 23
Holmes is 24
Jones is 25
Edelman is 26

Jenkins is 30

Sounds like Lloyd is gone. I would hope they would try to draft someone.
We need some veteran presence.

A few thoughts come to mind:

1.--I think that we definitely draft someone, without a doubt. The positions of WR and DL are the 2 positions that I clearly see as needing youth and talent, and I think that both positions are addressed in both methods (FA/draft). We're speaking here of WR, but I included DL too due to the need of youth, depth, and talent--and the uncertainty of contracts that are up this year which include Love, Deaderick, Pryor, Cunningham, and Ninkovich (with Wilfork only having one more after that). I think that these 2 positions are the obvious choices for higher round draft picks.

We know about the challenges of picking up the offense and how Brady needs to trust you etc, but I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility to expect something in the vein of Brandon Tate's first season playing, when he caught about 25 balls/450 yds/3-4 TDs. More importantly he had a very good ypa gain at around 17-18 yds per catch. That would help to keep the defense honest for field stretching ability with the potential for an every now and then key bigger play. It would also give us the youth and playmaking ability at the position that we so desperately seek, and the WR could grow throughout the season and learn like any other developmental rookie.

2.--The signing of Jenkins is nothing more than one of the 4-5-6 signings at the position that we all expected from Belichick. Like always, and moreso lately due to the instability of the position, Belichick is going to bring in a group of vets to battle it out to improve the depth and competition. Some of these will be "names," and some will be has-beens. Jenkins likely falls somewhere in the middle in my opinion.

3.--I doubt that Llyod is coming back myself, but that's just my personal opinion on the matter. I get the feeling that some are undervaluing the need for teams to bring in a large handful of vet WRs for TC competition, and Llyod certainly provides value for someone out there looking for a WR3 etc.

It almost seems like some are grouping him in with Branch/Stallworth as a player that is dedicated to N.England being his first choice unless something much better comes up. I don't think that Brandon Llyod is dedicated to N.England in the slightest, and I think he'll move on somewhere else. It's my opinion that if something were going to get done, the front office would have made it happen due to his somewhat reasonable cost. Many here disagree and feel that "there's no market for him," and that "he'll come crawling back here." I am not seeing that happen at all.

 

[JarOfMayo51]

It was a moronic idea, because the whole series of downs was a screw up. "Bad" is far too kind. And the mediots you're talking about are the one's who pointed to some percentage studies while ignoring that even one of the men behind/defending the studies acknowledges that going purely on raw numbers is a bad idea, because context matters.

Disagree... it can be argued whether or not you go for it there, but its certainly not "moronic," especially when putting it into context. The context is that Manning was moving up and down the field between the 20's at will... If they punted the ball, he had plenty of time to move the ball and it would have come down to making a stop in the redzone anyways... By going for it on 4th and 2, you have a shot to seal the game right then and there.. if you miss, it comes down to stopping them in the redzone anyways.. There is certainly logic there, he had the balls to go for it and it didn't work out.. I like that Belichick will make some gutsy calls once in awhile.

As for Jenkins, nothing at all to get excited about. You can bet its for veteran minimum and just another receiver in camp. Sure, maybe he gets a change of scenery and uses it as an opportunity to establish himself as part of a receiving corp on a championship caliber team. At best he works his way into a #3 role, but I wouldn't even count on that. Anyways, its a thin position and its good to see them bringing some guys in to compete in camp. I'm sure they'll target a WR or two in the draft as well... and Aaron Hernandez is basically a WR, so we have Hernandez, Amendola, Jones as the 1-3 right now.

 

[Brady6]

I think it stems from the fact that the Pats really havent done anything as of YET to replace Lloyd's outside receiver role.

guys like Jones/jenkins are nice for WR3, 4,5 competition I guess...but we still have NO quality starter to play alongside Amendola

Did you really view Lloyd as anything more than a #3 WR? Because if you roll 2010 out of his stats he averaged 34.22 receptions, 471.88 yards and 2.66 touchdowns a season.

Lloyd catch % is freaking awful even in his career year in 2010 he barely caught 50% of his targets.

2010 - 50.32%
2011 - 46.66%
2012 - 56.92%

 

[Deus Irae]

...As for Jenkins, nothing at all to get excited about. You can bet its for veteran minimum and just another receiver in camp. Sure, maybe he gets a change of scenery and uses it as an opportunity to establish himself as part of a receiving corp on a championship caliber team. At best he works his way into a #3 role, but I wouldn't even count on that. Anyways, its a thin position and its good to see them bringing some guys in to compete in camp. I'm sure they'll target a WR or two in the draft as well... and Aaron Hernandez is basically a WR, so we have Hernandez, Amendola, Jones as the 1-3 right now.

I've got no issue with the Jenkins signing, since I assume the team will add at least 3 more legitimate competitors for WR spots.

 

[supafly]

I think it stems from the fact that the Pats really havent done anything as of YET to replace Lloyd's outside receiver role.

guys like Jones/jenkins are nice for WR3, 4,5 competition I guess...but we still have NO quality starter to play alongside Amendola

Common sense would state that it's very early in the new league year and that we'll definitely get the more well-known name replacement for Llyod. But there's also another possibility that states that we'll be drafting someone in the higher rounds and letting the other group of 4-5 proven NFL vets battle it out along with Holmes, Ebert, etc.

It's the overall depth that needs improving upon, not just "who is going to replace Llyod." Forget about Welker at this point. Obviously Amendola is here to replace him (or try at some percentage of production), so we may as well forget about including Welker in all of the comparisons to last year's WR depth.

Basically it consisted of Llyod, Edelman, and Branch. We will need to try and improve upon those 3 players, that is the biggest key--the overall depth of the position and improving upon those players' weaknesses. At the moment, we have Donald Jones and Michael Jenkins in the mix. I would like to add Edelman for a handful of reasons, but that may/may not happen. There will be another handful of WR's brought in and most feel that a draft pick will be included in that group.

 

[Brady6]

No, he's not. Or, at least, he hasn't been throughout the course of his career. He's been a WR4/WR5 who's been force fed the WR2/WR3 roles and failed at them. Overhyping the guy's no better than underrating him.

Which is no different than Lloyd. Lloyd catches 50% of his targets and provides nothing after the catch. He is in the same class as Jenkins and you're a fool if you think otherwise.

 

[Brady6]

Common sense would state that it's very early in the new league year and that we'll definitely get the more well-known name replacement for Llyod.

But there's also another possibility that states that we'll be drafting someone in the higher rounds and letting the other group of 4-5 proven NFL vets battle it out along with Holmes, Ebert, etc.

It's the overall depth that needs improving upon, not just "who is going to replace Llyod." Forget about Welker at this point. Obviously Amendola is here to replace him (or try at some percentage), so we may as well forget about including Welker in all of the comparisons to last year's WR depth.

Basically it consisted of Llyod, Edelman, and Branch. We will need to try and improve upon those 3 players, that is the biggest key--the overall depth of the position and improving upon those players' weaknesses. At the moment, we have Donald Jones and Michael Jenkins in the mix. I would like to add Edelman for a handful of reasons, but that may/may not happen. There will be another handful of WR's brought in and most feel that a draft pick will be included in that group.

When you see the reaction to this signing It's so amusing that last year people were so excited for Lloyd, Gaffney and Stallworth like any of them have done more in their careers than this guy. All 4 of them are 3rd and 4th WR's.

 

[Deus Irae]

Common sense would state that it's very early in the new league year and that we'll definitely get the more well-known name replacement for Llyod. But there's also another possibility that states that we'll be drafting someone in the higher rounds and letting the other group of 4-5 proven NFL vets battle it out along with Holmes, Ebert, etc.

It's the overall depth that needs improving upon, not just "who is going to replace Llyod." Forget about Welker at this point. Obviously Amendola is here to replace him (or try at some percentage of production), so we may as well forget about including Welker in all of the comparisons to last year's WR depth.

Basically it consisted of Llyod, Edelman, and Branch. We will need to try and improve upon those 3 players, that is the biggest key--the overall depth of the position and improving upon those players' weaknesses. At the moment, we have Donald Jones and Michael Jenkins in the mix. I would like to add Edelman for a handful of reasons, but that may/may not happen. There will be another handful of WR's brought in and most feel that a draft pick will be included in that group.

I think the problem is that Jenkins and Jones are incredibly underwhelming signings, and the loss of Welker and Lloyd makes such signings look even more unimpressive than they normally would. Just having Lloyd still around would have been enough to make a real difference in perception, I think. If you're looking at

Lloyd
The porcelain Italian
potential Rnd 1 or Rnd 2 draft pick
Jenkins
Jones

you're probably feeling a lot better than people are looking at

The porcelain Italian
potential Rnd 1 or Rnd 2 draft pick
Jenkins
Jones

 

[supafly]

... and Aaron Hernandez is basically a WR, so we have Hernandez, Amendola, Jones as the 1-3 right now.

I agree with your overall point about bringing in a group of vets to compete, and as much as I like the signing of Jones and I expect him to make the team, I'm not sure that we should pencil him in at the WR3 spot just yet.

Especially if we're expecting a top 1-2 round draft pick.

 

[supafly]

I think the problem is that Jenkins and Jones are incredibly underwhelming signings, and the loss of Welker and Lloyd makes such signings look even more unimpressive than they normally would. Just having Lloyd still around would have been enough to make a real difference in perception, I think. If you're looking at

Lloyd
The porcelain Italian
potential Rnd 1 or Rnd 2 draft pick
Jenkins
Jones

you're probably feeling a lot better than people are looking at

The porcelain Italian
potential Rnd 1 or Rnd 2 draft pick
Jenkins
Jones

Yes, exactly.

That's why I think it's fair to also leave out the big name letdown that comes with Wes Welker's name. It just creates an atmosphere of letdown that is hard to overcome. That's a seperate issue altogether in my mind, and one that they were pretty much expecting to happen and even planning ahead of time.

It's Amendola for Welker straight up, and that's what we have to live with. The resigning of Edelman would make some like myself feel alot better about that specific issue, but that may not end up happening.

In the meantime, we'll have to see what shakes out. It seems as though Belichick wanted a rehaul at the position which included some youth and a playmaker, just the same as we've seen at other positions lately. I still think there is potential for improved depth all throughout the position, especially if you break it down to the 3 players of Llyod/Edelman/Branch, who were our primary WR 2-4. I don't think it's unreasonable to think we cannot improve on those players at all.

 

[Deus Irae]

Yes, exactly.

That's why I think it's fair to also leave out the big name letdown that comes with Wes Welker's name. It just creates an atmosphere of letdown that is hard to overcome. That's a seperate issue altogether in my mind, and one that they were pretty much expecting to happen and even planning ahead of time.

It's Amendola for Welker straight up, and that's what we have to live with. The resigning of Edelman would make some like myself feel alot better about that specific issue, but that may not end up happening.

In the meantime, we'll have to see what shakes out. It seems as though Belichick wanted a rehaul at the position which included some youth and a playmaker, just the same as we've seen at other positions lately. I still think there is potential for improved depth all throughout the position, especially if you break it down to the 3 players of Llyod/Edelman/Branch, who were our primary WR 2-4. I don't think it's unreasonable to think we cannot improve on those players at all.

This leads me to a related question:

Qb - Brady
RB - Ridley
3rd down RB - Vereen (hopefully he's ready), Washington (Hopefully he's not needed)
TE1 - Gronk
TE2 - Hernandez
OLT - Solder
OLG - Mankins
C - Wendel/Connolly
ORG - Connolly/Cannon
ORT - Vollmer
WR2 - The porcelain Italian
WR1 - TBD
WR3 - TBD

CB1 - Talib
CB2 - Dennard
CB3 - Arrington
S1 - McCourty
S2, S3 - Wilson/Wilson/Gregory
OLB - Hightower
OLB - Mayo
MLB - Spikes
DT - Wilfork
DE - Jones
DT - TBD
DE - TBD

With the moves that have been made, could we possibly see BB go WR/WR in the first two rounds? If you look at Wilson/Wilson/Gregory as a viable safety group lining up next to McCourty/Dennard/Talib/Arrington (I'm not sold, but hey....), isn't the team largely down to needing WR/DL for the upcoming season, in terms of starting level players?

 

[Bruins29]

I think so. At least one of those pics should be a WR. That is why he is not going out and spending big coin there. Gotta develop some new blood and why not do it now while Brady is still elite. He might be more patient now than 3 years from now.

 

[goheels22002]

Quite the welcoming thread, gentlemen and ladies.

Michael Jenkins, we love ya. Learn the playbook and catch the damn ball, and we'll love you even more.

 

[Frezo]

Lloyd
The porcelain Italian
potential Rnd 1 or Rnd 2 draft pick
Jenkins
Jones

So what does that make Edelman?

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

So what does that make Edelman?

It finally hit me, Amendola, Edelman, Dowling..."The Glass Menagerie"

 

[supafly]

With the moves that have been made, could we possibly see BB go WR/WR in the first two rounds? If you look at Wilson/Wilson/Gregory as a viable safety group lining up next to McCourty/Dennard/Talib/Arrington (I'm not sold, but hey....), isn't the team largely down to needing WR/DL for the upcoming season, in terms of starting level players?

I'm all for doubling up, Deus. That would be something if it happened in the first two rounds back to back, but then again as you said the glaring 2 positions that need addressing are WR and DL.

If Belichick feels that he can add another pick by trading down that would give us picks in rounds 3, 4, 7a and 7b. It's possible that two of those could be used on DL additions, with the other two being used on BPA and/or also addressing the CB position with even a possible mid round pick.

That would allow some more youth and competition at both positions of WR, DL, and also address the CB with a 3rd or 4th rounder (the other being used on DL in addition to a 7a or 7b).

I think this could be an excellent way to take care of everything, while only leaving a handful of vet signings for WR/DL in free agency to compete for depth, in addition to the usual smaller signings at OL etc. Our biggest remaining free agent addition would be one of Abraham/Freeny, and then a handful of lower level signings--which sounds about right.

 

[slash83]

Camp body. He's a WR that has no separation.

 

[primetime]

Have to beg to differ.
I don't know f he makes it here but ran a 4.42 in college.
I pasted this earlier

"Jenkins finished his seven year Falcons career with 276 catches for 3,512 yards, a 12.7 yards per catch average and 20 touchdowns. I’ll remember him fondly for 2005 to 2008, when he was either the team’s best or second best receiver and a very capable blocker for a potent rushing attack. There were a lot of times I wished the Falcons would just find an upgrade for him, but he was a good, hard-working Falcon for a long time."
DW Toys

The fact that he was better than superstars like Brian Finneran, a broken Peerless Price, or a geriatric Joe Horn doesn't mean he was anything approaching a quality NFL receiver. He's a stiff and at 30 he's never going to be anything more than a stiff.

 

[PatsFanStnfrd]

Molasses Mike. At least, BB signed a receiver with a colorful nickname.

Camp fodder. Let's move on.

 

[Joker]

Molasses Mike. At least, BB signed a receiver with a colorful nickname.

Camp fodder. Let's move on.

you got that straight from Roto World...LaCanfora posted that....Jenkins ran a 4.45 on his Pro Day...his combine wasn't listed but a 4.6 average 40 was associated with him at the combine for some reason...here's a clip of him this past season in Minny...he's big...and has good body control as evidenced by this small clip....perhaps the Pats can do better but what is the harm in bringing in a veteran who has clips of Christian Ponder throwing him the ball as a yardstick?

Michael Jenkins 35-Yard Catch vs. Buffalo