Where does ESPN dig these guys up..

[sebman2112]

BS. Ginn is a lousy receiver.

Welker was "only an average return man" because of the garbage special teams blocking that Miami has.

OH, and Welker was still the Phins best receiver last year. But you'd rather slam him than admit the truth.

Typical chump welcher move.

Totally agree with you on this one Bruinz.

 

[DaBruinz]

But was the 3rd best receiver on our team. And also had the 3rd most production on our team as well. Receiving is a lot more than catches. Look at yards and TDs, those are way more important.

Yards and TDs aren't more important. All they are indicative of is what routes the player is used on.

How can Welker be to blame if the chumps who coached the Phins last year didn't have him in there for red zone packages? Oh, before you go offer up what you claim passes as a rebuttal, make sure you take into consideration that most redzone packages go for taller receivers who can get their hands up over the coverage.

How is Welker to blame if the chumps who coached Miami only used him on short yardage routes?

How is Welker to blame for Harrington, Culpepper, and Lemon being lousy QBs who can't make the long passes and open up the field a bit for someone like Welker?

 

[DaBruinz]

Chambers also has butter fingers.

I can agree with that.

Chambers was the target of a pass 154 times. Most of ANY Phins WR. Yet he only had 59 receptions? Now, I will give Chambers a tad bit of credit in that 78 of the passes thrown his way were bad throws or defensed. However, 8 of the passes to him were CLEAR DROPS. That is 8 of 76 potential catches. That is BAD.

Welker, on the other hand, was a target 100 times and made 67 catches. Of the 100 passes to him, 26 of them were bad throws or defensed. So, Welker dropped 4 out of 74. Or basically half the number that Chambers did. Also, Welker's hands were better in that he caugh 67 of 74 passes compared to 59 of 76 for Chambers.

Just because the Phins coaches from last year misused Welker doesn't mean that the Pats will this year.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Welker have a few TDs this year.

 

[smg93]

Yeah but how far would you have gone with him?

How far would you guys have gone with Brees instead of Culpepper? There are so many questions to answer. Banging your head against the wall constantly by asking questions like this is counter productive in my opinion. It is what it is.

 

[Brady to Brown]

Let's set the record straight. Wes Welker runs excellent routes. Not physically overpowering, he uses savvy, guile and cunning to achieve what all receivers strive for, but that many have difficulty with - getting separation.

The evidence of his sure hands is punctuated by his return skills. This may be a prime reason the Pats were willing to pay what they did for him.

Given this, was there anyone in the second round (or the 7th, for that matter) who could, who would, bring all this to the table for the Pats?

I think not.

"Robbed" is pure hyperbole exercised by an avid, but not very observant, Miami homer fan who thinks the shallow depths of his "viewpoints" will carry some weight with the hoi polloi over here.

Wes Welker is an exceptional addition to this team. If anyone got "robbed" in this transaction, it was the Miami Dolphins.

Any Miami fan that you could get to tell the truth would agree with you.

 

[patfanken]

I think the most glaring error the writer makes is the same one most every OTHER writer makes as well. They all think that when the Pats refuse to over pay a player, it is going to cause a problem in the Pats lockerroom. NOTHER COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!

The writers might not understand the FIRST rule of capology [for every dollar you give one player there is one less dollar for everyone else], but the guys in the lockerroom know it. They know from past history, that the Pats spend to the cap virtually every year. They know that eventually the money that is NOT spent OVER paying players, is going to filter down to them. That is the reason why the Pats have the strongest middle class in the league.

If the Pats had acceded to Branch's demands, THEN they would have had a problem in the lockerroom. There would have been players lined up at Scott Pioli's door looking to renegotiate THEIR OWN contracts, all knowing that dollars they they MIGHT have gotten down the road, were being sent over to Deion.

I don't know why the media keeps missing that distinction. Its not exactly complicated.

 

[Aqua4Ever04]

How did the Pats get ROBBED for Welker? He was, by far, the best receiver on the Phins last year. Just because you slam him now that he's gone doesn't change that fact.

BTW, its not like Miami knows what to do with draft picks. You used a frigging 1st rounder on a player who runs terrible routes and is basically a glorified punt returner. Or are you on his jock, now, after you nearly died of embarrassment on Draft Saturday?

Sorry, but with that statement it's obvious you didn't watch a lot of the Dolphins last year. That's just funny.

 

[danny88]

Welker was a UDFA. He is a 3rd WR and an average return man. I'll take a 2nd round pick for that any day.

Now we have Ginn who will be twice the receiver Welker can ever dream of being.

Yet everyone thinks he will be a number three at best in the NFL... Number nine overall pick on a overrated wr who most believe will be no better then a #3 at the big show.20 bucks says you never watched Ginn play in college. Actually I take that back, we all know how you are with bets. Congrats you just invested the number nine pick on a highly overrated player.

Looks like the phins are going to be .500 this year.

 

[livinginthe past]

Hey Aqua liked Welker enough last year to list him on his 'murders row' of the Miami '06 offensive juggernaut.

Culpepper, Brown, Williams, Chambers, McMichael, Booker, Welker... man you guys should be worried because that is murders row on offense!

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?p=76771

Now Aqua will share his thoughts on his 'love' for Welker and the pain it would cause him to see him in a patriots uni - awwwww - how times change.

I love Wes to death and don't want to see him go. But it may be in the best interest of the team if we go our seperate ways with Wes. I will tell you one thing though, it would kill me to see him in a Patriots uniform, I honestly just can't imagine that.

My personal scouting report on Wes is a sure handed short yardage slot receiver. He doesn't stretch the field or take shots vertically, but when it's 3rd and 5, you like to look for Welker. He has some good punt returns, but he is not explosive on kick or punt returns at all. He likely won't give you any TDs from the return game, and you usually are starting from the 25 after his kick returns.

Like I said, I love Wes and seeing him as a Pat would just suck. We'll take Samuel if you guys take Welker though, how about that?

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?p=340604

 

[Aqua4Ever04]

Hey Aqua liked Welker enough last year to list him on his 'murders row' of the Miami '06 offensive juggernaut.



http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?p=76771

Now Aqua will share his thoughts on his 'love' for Welker and the pain it would cause him to see him in a patriots uni - awwwww - how times change.



http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?p=340604

See you just happen to take everything out of context. For the 1 millionth time, Wes is a good player. But the way you Pats fans talk about him, you'd think he's the next coming of Steve Largent. He's a nice player yes, but a 3rd WR and nothing more.

EDIT: And for the record, I know for a fact Ginn will have more yards and TDs than Welker.

 

[Aqua4Ever04]

Yet everyone thinks he will be a number three at best in the NFL... Number nine overall pick on a overrated wr who most believe will be no better then a #3 at the big show.20 bucks says you never watched Ginn play in college. Actually I take that back, we all know how you are with bets. Congrats you just invested the number nine pick on a highly overrated player.

Looks like the phins are going to be .500 this year.

Well that's a free 20 bucks then for me.

How could I not see him? If you watch college football at all you saw Ohio State play quite a bit.

 

[DarrylS]

Read that article, WTF is going on here, maybe Borges is ghosting this guy.. surprised no mention on how we missed on David Terrell and picked up that slug Richard Seymour.

 

[NYCPatsFan]

Whatever the Pats decided about Welker, they seem to have decided it in earnest. His deal out of all of them seems most designed to leave them on the hook all 5 years, at #3 money ($1.7M this year against the cap, big bonuses, smaller salaries; max of $4.5M against the cap in yr. 5.)

Everybody else seems to have an "audition year" in 07 (Stallworth, Moss, Washington.)

So, at his price, BB seems to think Welker is a "blue chip" addition. Quite possibly it's the versatility that brings him to that conclusion. It's not like we're Miami, and we have to use him as the go-to guy.

on 5'9" receivers - I'm pretty sure that's what Steve Smith is. QED.

On "woulda coulda shoulda" rear-view analysis: Didn't. End of story.

I was sad that Branch left. I am happy that the ragtag bunch that filled in did so well enough. I am very happy that the team is so stacked at present, and still $6.75M under the cap, with another $2.5M coming on 6/2, as "dead money" for Dillon's salary disappears. (Thanks to Miguel for his informative page, and as always, no reflection on same for any use I make of his #s.)

Finally, on what young Patriots such as Samuel see observing the Branch situation: They should see that when dealing with the Pats FO, you need to be sure your self-evaluation is realistic, and understand that it can be realistic from your own POV and that of another team, but may be in disagreement with the evaluation by the Foxboro brass. That's business. You may get to laugh about it (Vinatieri, for example, got what he wanted, plus a ring with the Colts,) or more likely, you will slip downward toward the hinterlands of the league. Make sure you factor that in.

Your replacements do just that.

PFnV

Excellent analysis, as always.

 

[sebman2112]

Somebody told me that guy used to be a beat writer for the Raiders & maybe the 49ers, so there you have it.

 

[livinginthe past]

See you just happen to take everything out of context. For the 1 millionth time, Wes is a good player. But the way you Pats fans talk about him, you'd think he's the next coming of Steve Largent. He's a nice player yes, but a 3rd WR and nothing more.

EDIT: And for the record, I know for a fact Ginn will have more yards and TDs than Welker.

When you talk about things that are to happen in the future as being a 'fact' it just makes you sound childish and exciteable.

I could bore everyone with quotes of your worthless predictions but I think where we've all seen enough of those.

Saying that i've taken your comments 'out of context' doesn't automatically make it so, it just sounds like you've fallen asleep in front of LA Law once or twice.

And to tick another box in a pretty short post (impressive) you've set up a ridiculous strawman argument - I defy you to find more than one Patriots fan who compares Welker to Largent.

I know its a tough prospect to have to see Welker (a guy you love) in a Patriots uni - but I really haven't seen anyone here project Welker into anything other than the 3rd receiver/slot guy in a Patriots WR corps this year - he just happens to be good at what he does.

 

[37Harrison]

Hey Aqua liked Welker enough last year to list him on his 'murders row' of the Miami '06 offensive juggernaut.



http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?p=76771

Now Aqua will share his thoughts on his 'love' for Welker and the pain it would cause him to see him in a patriots uni - awwwww - how times change.



http://www.patsfans.com/new-england-patriots/messageboard/showthread.php?p=340604

I wish there was a smilie on this board with a foot in its mouth!

 

[Joker]

Forgive the mongo Dolphin fan

he sat through years of Done Noringo gimping around like a crippled duck

and of course he drank the Jimmuh Manson guarantee kool aid...and subsequently dropped dead for ten years

 

[Grizzafted]

Randy Moss + SF's 2008 1st Round Pick > Deion Branch at 6 mil per year.

This is simple math. It's not even a question. If when Deion left at the beginning of the season, we knew this is what the compensation would ultimately be, we'd have thrown a party.

 

[Grizzafted]

Okay, you know what? Really, this article is ******ed.

Chadidha basically says at the end, "hey even though this is smart from a football perspective and clearly the Patriots have thrived even after releasing players in moves that most pundits predicted would cripple the team, it's sort of bad in a vague philosophical sense, boo hoo." Come on! If they were signing all these "chemistry" guys who wanted 2 or 3 million a year over their team value and were going 8-8 or 9-7 because of huge holes in the team, these articles would say, "Pioli and Belicheck were never really that smart, they just got lucky with a good team chemistry situation." B.S.

 

[godef]

We'll find out this year weather or not they should've kept Branch. He and Moss will be compared quite a bit this year but as it stands now, the Pats got the better end of it IMO.

Welker would probably have filled admirably for Branch if we had him in 2006. Unfortunately, this will never be clear now that they have loaded up for 2007.

And hey, don't forget yr bet with DaBruinz.