Bill Belichick continued to add receivers for Tom Brady to throw to by bringing back old friend Jabbar Gaffney this week. That makes ten wide receivers on the roster if you include seventh-round draft pick Jeremy Ebert.
You can't have ten wide receivers on the roster. Maybe for a touch football game at the family barbeque, but not on an NFL team. So what's Belichick doing? Is he having some sort of bad reaction to the Brady-to-Welker miss that cost the Pats that elusive fourth Lombardi? Does he just want to be surrounded by a lot of guys with numbers in the 80s on their jerseys?
Seems the coach/GM is taking the same approach with the wide receiver position that he took last year with defensive linemen. You can never have enough. The Pats went into training camp last year with what seemed like 20 defensive linemen in search of the long-missing pass rush. It kind of worked. Andre Carter and Mark Anderson (and somewhat Sean Ellis) had solid years. Haynesworth not so much.
So who is the Carter and who is the Haynesworth of this interesting collection of wideouts?
It all begins with Welker. 122 catches. Is there really any question about how valuable he is? Even if you call it a drop, #83 has been a catch register since the Pats stole him from the Dolphins. And I don't subscribe to the Welker wouldn't be as good without Brady theory. Put him with Brees and see what you think. Hell, put him with Sanchez or Tebow. Welker needs to get a three or four-year deal and soon. Welker is the Wilfork of the receivers.
The other nine are made up of returning players Deion Branch, Chad Johnsoncinco, Julian Edelman, and Matthew Slater. Then there are free agent signings Brandon Lloyd, Anthony Gonzalez, Donte Stallworth, and Gaffney. Throw in rookie Ebert and you have ten guys competing for seven spots. Tops. More like six. When you have two tight ends like Gronk and Hernandez you don't want too many wide receivers getting in their way.
So who will those six be? Welker, Lloyd, Gonzalez, Stallworth, Slater, Edelman. If there's a seventh it's Branch. But I don't think there's a seventh. I think Deion calls it a career. He'll be 33 when the season starts. Not too old for a wide receiver but almost there. He showed the last two years that he and Brady can still connect like they did when they were winning Super Bowls. But Gonzalez can do that. And Stallworth. And they are faster. That's why they are here. The only thing the team was missing on offense was some serious speed. Solved. Branch can go out on a high note and start planning for his day at the Pats Hall of Fame in a few years. He is a Super Bowl MVP after all.
Welker and Lloyd will be 1 and 2 in some order. Doesn't matter. If Lloyd and Brady can find a solid groove together it could look a lot like '07. A team that Stallworth was a member of. He can still make plays. As can former Colt Gonzalez. He has a history of being a go-to guy in the red zone. I think he will be the big surprise of this group. The Andre Carter. Gaffney is unlikely to outplay either Stallworth or Gonzalez in camp. Rounding out the six are Edelman and Slater who stick for their key special teams play, with Edelman only in danger if rookie Ebert has a great preseason.
That leaves one left among the ten. Ocho. He'll be playing the Haynesworth role.
I was glad when they signed Ocho. I'll be glad when they release him too.
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