I'll take care of these two together, since they're basically the same thing.
First of all, let's address my previous views on Welker.
Welker was a year removed from ACL surgery and had just put up a season of 848 yards. He had essentially no production outside the slot, and he was badly outproduced by Branch in the 2/2/1 sets. Welker was a slot receiver on a team with two elite TEs. And while there are definitely ways to use a slot receiver with two TEs on the field (both WRs on one side, a TE as an outside receiver, going empty), it's limiting to an offense. Even now, the majority of Welker's snaps come in the slot.
There were two main things I did not account for. First of all, that Welker would not only regain his pre-ACL surgery athleticism, but surpass it. You find me a 29 yard old receiver that tears an ACL and then gets faster after recovering from it, and I'll admit that I should have expected him to be Superman. That 2010 season gave us a perfect indication of what Welker's going to be when his athleticism declines, because we got to see him play with one of his legs at far less than 100%.
Welker was 28 when he tore his ACL. Would you settle for a 27 year old RB comparison. Sports medicine has come a long way in the last decade... And if Welker can still produce 2010 stats in 3-4 years the team will be thrilled, particularly after they renegotiate his backend non guaranteed salary to reflect that. You seem to fail to grasp how long term contracts work in the NFL.
Second, I did not anticipate that Chad Johnson would bomb so hard. He has more recently claimed that his problems off the field made him unable to concentrate on football, and whatever the reason, he just sucked. Physically, he was what the Pats needed. Based on his previous production, down to the routes he ran and where he caught balls, he was exactly what the offense needed, a guy that you could stick outside to either win one on one matchups or pull attention from the middle of the field, letting the tight ends go to work. He was not a guy that statistically was confined to the slot. He was the exact opposite, and now we more that he was the exact opposite of Welker in more ways than that, especially mentally. Perhaps my trade Welker, trade for Ochocinco proposal was overly simplistic, but while some people expected Ochocinco to not be good, I don't think anybody expected it to be for reasons completely unrelated to his shenanigans, which weren't at all an issue.
You and BB... The only off the field problem Chad had here was the same one he's had his whole career. Can't focus. Probably could use some adderall. Although in his case he'd probably just use it to sharpen his focus on social media and video games as opposed to coaching and playbook. And some of us expected Chad to bust here despite their ability to eliminate outright shenanigans. Physically and fifty cents will get you a cup of coffee here. Mentally (acuity and toughness) is what it's all about when you play with Brady and for Belichick.
Now it's not like I was supporting giving Welker away. You also have to account for the new player. I don't remember if this was before or after the 2010 draft, but there were plenty of good players taken in the second and third rounds of each of those drafts. Maybe Belichick drafts a complete bust, or maybe he drafts Navorro Bowman, TJ Ward, Torrey Smith, or Randall Cobb. Or maybe he turns it into a 2012 first. I don't know, but you're completely ignoring that pick.
With good reason... The last time we traded a #1WR for a first round pick we ended up with Big Bang Clock... And the last WR we drafted here in the second or third round who amounted to anything was that guy...
Anyway, based what has happened with Welker, you have apparently deemed me too stupid to respond to anything related to him. So, since you have already caught me being wrong once, I'll make sure you benefit if it happens a second time. If, in four years, Welker has a 1,000 yard season (very modest production for a $10M receiver), then I'm gone forever. Feel free set as many alarms for January of 2017 as you need to remember. If Ian is around until then, then I will be too. And after being wrong a second time on Welker, I clearly do not deserve to talk at all about anything related to the Pats ever again.