Patriots Sign WR Brandon LaFell to 3-year contract

This is a bad signing. LaFell has like 3 or 4 good games a year... but he'll disappear in the rest of them. You'll be cursing his name sooner rather than later

The idea that this is "Belichick's solution" for the need at WR is ludicrous, period. The Edelman signing was far more important and he's still a #2 at best. this is about making sure they have the depth they need at the position and building in some of the physical attributes lacking with their other receivers, who are not that big other than Dobson. Belichick is still going to look for a #1 if he can find one but will build the overall strength and depth on the unit to make it as solid and versatile as he can. And while i am not a Kenny Britt fan by any means if he brings him in on a one year conditional deal so he can rehab his career then i am fine with it, just as long as they are protected and can release him the moment he returns to idiot form.


They aren't going to bring in any more of the smaller slot type receivers, they are set at that skill set, but i expect him to continue adding the bigger bodies like LaFell and maybe a burner as well, and then they can fight it out in camp and we'll see who emerges and how the unit shapes up. people seem to forget that the year he brought in Welker and Moss he also brought in Stallworth and had Gaffney and others on that roster, and going into camp there were about 12 WR's on the roster with 8-9 battling for spots, and most had good resume's.

Bottom line, I love the fact that Belichick is aggressively addressing their needs and building this team this offseason, and even if I don't agree with every move I think the overall approach is what really matters. They still have a good deal of work to do but he appears to be determined to make this roster as strong and competitive as possible, and is doing so without mortgaging their future, it simple doesn't get any better than that. I'm psyched and looking forward to where they go from here. It would seem they will move inside and start addressing the interior of their lines on both sides of the ball in coming months, and while it may be anathema to many here i wouldn't be shocked if he ended going OG with his first pick if he can't move it one way or the other. Both Su'a Filo and Yankey are great prospects who could start immediately and contribute all season. it's not the sexy pick i know, but unlike pretty much every other position they would get the best player at their position.

Deus Irae said:

Most teams in the NFL have a legit WR1. Several teams have more than one WR who would fit that bill.

Click to expand...

Really, most teams? At a minimum, that is 17 teams with legit WR1s, although the tone of your post would indicate more. Half sounds about right to me, off the top of my head. Remember, this is 2014, so Steve Smith doesn't count. I also assume you aren't counting the likes of Stevie Johnson and Torrey Smith.

You don't like the LaFell signing but you are really excited about the prospect of signing Britt? He has been money for the Titans the past two years. My larger point about the Pats was that Gronk is their number one WR. If he is healthy, they will be fine. Which WR1 did you want them to sign this offseason? My larger point about Deus is that you are not happy unless you are whining like a little B. You think you are always the smartest person in the room (any room, I'm sure, not just your home, all day and night, Patsfans.com). You are not.

seattle didn't have a wr1 last year either.

Harvin was hurt pretty much all year. they threw it around to all sorts. Kearse, Baldwin Tate. And they didn't have a gronk either.

resdubwhite said:

seattle didn't have a wr1 last year either.

Harvin was hurt pretty much all year. they threw it around to all sorts. Kearse, Baldwin Tate. And they didn't have a gronk either.

Click to expand...

Green Bay hasn't had one and the Saints haven't either and both have been among the best offenses in football for year. That's not to say they haven't had some really good players and units because the clearly have but none are in the true number one mold. I'm also not saying the Patriots WR corps as constituted is as good as those units were but great QB's have a way of getting the most out of the talent around them and that's true in all these cases. The Patriots need to continue to build the WR corps and adding depth and flexibility at the position has to come from every avenue available.

LaFell played really well against the Patriots, and gave a glimpse of what might be...

He is another weapon, who might add another dimension to this team, with him in the fold, now we can focus on TE's....

Not sure if Britt and lafell even make this squad as they will be competing with boyce and thompkins for thr fourth and fifth WR spots. Amendola, edelman and dobson are locks.

TonyTucker said:

Terrible signing. Way too much money for a JAG with stone hands. They were better off targeting a WR in the draft.

Click to expand...

You've seen the contract? Cool what are the guarantees? Please do share.

kennyb said:

Supposedly had a hard time learning Carolinas offense. Not a fan of this one at all. Dead money for next year.

Click to expand...

Please dont tell me that he also drives a Prius and is addicted to Twitter.

hwc said:

I'll go out on a limb and project that LaFell is projected as one of three starting receivers on opening day: Edelman (105 catches), Amendola (54 catches), and LaFell (49 catches).

I think there's a lot of rose-colored glasses about Dobson (37 catches), Thompkins (32 catches), and Boyce (9 catches). I doubt that Belichick and Brady are sold on any of them, yet. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Pats draft another WR to add to the mix, especially with Dobson's broken foot making him a big question mark. His late surgery was not good news.

Click to expand...

Dont forget about Dobsons broken hands.

When talking about legitimate #1 WRs, I still don't know why people outright dismiss the possibility of Dobson becoming a legitimate #1. Before his injury, he was emerging as Brady's primary receiver and even was catching more balls than Gronk. It was a very small sample (about 2-3 games), but he was showing signs as being the #1 WR for this team.

I am under no illusion that Dobson will become Calvin Johnson in year 2 (or ever), but he has shown the potential of being a good #1.

I think LaFell can be a good complimentary piece, but I think Gronk and Dobson will be Brady's go to guys with Edelman being #3. I think that is a fairly good receiving corp.

BelichickFan said:

Like I said on the other thread, I wonder if Amendola will make it.

Edelman, LaFell, Dobson, Boyce seem like certainties. That leaves Amendola, Thompkins, Harrison and whoever else competing for one spot. Maybe 2 but we almost always seem to have 5 plus Slater.

Click to expand...

Amendola has to make it. They are stuck with him (at least for 2014) It's more expensive to let him go then to keep him. We just have to hope he's somewhat healthy and see what we can get out of him. Thompkins is the one I'd be worried about.

Triumph said:

Dont forget about Dobsons broken hands.

Click to expand...

Dobson's drops are the most overrated thing talked about on this board. He had a lot of drops in his few games and he was fine after that. His reputation has been built on his first game.

And to the post you responded to, I think it is too early to tell whether Thompkins or Boyce will turn into anything, but Dobson was showing legitimate signs of being a good to very good WR before he broke his foot. The injury is a concern, but it may be something that never re-occurs.

Deus Irae said:

Until I see the final details, I'm going on the notion that the deal has an easy out. This signing reminds me of the year they brought in what felt like 400 TEs. We could see Britt sign, and have a WR contest of

Dobson
Edelman
Amendola

LaFell
Thompkins
Boyce
Britt
Harrison
Others

That's not any kind of murderer's row.

Click to expand...

Definitely not "murderer's row", but it has the potential to be pretty darned good. Edelman is solid. Amendola has ability (health is the issue), Dobson has an awful lot of potential. And LaFell is a big-play kind of receiver that the Pats have lacked recently. 2011 and 2012: 17.0 and 15.3 yards per catch, respectively. That's really good.

Throw in Gronk plus another quality TE (hopefully drafted), and that's a very, very solid receiving corps. Let's be honest, what Brady had at the WR position during the super bowl winning seasons wasn't exactly murderer's row either:

2001: Troy Brown (excellent), David Patten, Terry Glenn (just 14 rec), Charles Johnson, Jermaine Wiggins (TE)…. one great player and a lot of meh

2003: Brown (declining), Deion Branch (solid), David Givens, Patten, Graham, Christian Fauria (TE)… Again, not exactly a star-studded cast

2004: Givens, Branch, Patten, Graham, Watson…

You get the idea. I don't see why this current group (assuming Gronk's health is fine and Amendola is better) wouldn't be easily as good as those groups, and probably a lot better.

Rob0729 said:

When talking about legitimate #1 WRs, I still don't know why people outright dismiss the possibility of Dobson becoming a legitimate #1. Before his injury, he was emerging as Brady's primary receiver and even was catching more balls than Gronk. It was a very small sample (about 2-3 games), but he was showing signs as being the #1 WR for this team.

I am under no illusion that Dobson will become Calvin Johnson in year 2 (or ever), but he has shown the potential of being a good #1.

I think LaFell can be a good complimentary piece, but I think Gronk and Dobson will be Brady's go to guys with Edelman being #3. I think that is a fairly good receiving corp.

Click to expand...

If you look at the New Orleans' Saints as a model, it's better to have a ton of good weapons than 1 dominant one. Other than Jimmy Graham (comparable to a healthy Gronk) the Saints haven't had a dominant WR. But they've had a ton of weapons, including using their RBs (Sproles and Thomas) in the passing game. Marques Colston, Kenny Stills, Robert Meachem, Nick Toon. Devery Henderson, Lance Moore, Courtney Roby in past years.

I think that the Pats are better off with too many good weapons than a few great ones, especially if the interior OL can be shored up to give Brady a bit more time to find the open man.

I don't know if he is the guy, but his skillset is what I am looking for. A guy capable of playing the slot, outside, and occasionally running a reverse. This is the overall skillset that had me excited about Allen Robinson and Jordan Matthews in the upcoming draft. With his signing, maybe we don't even look at wr in the draft.

FWIW, it's very likely that the Patriots' receiving corps is already better than it was last year. Why? Because of these three factors last year:

(1) Bad health. Amendola was injured almost all season, Gronk missed a ton of action, Vereen missed a lot, etc. You have to hope that the injury situation is better.

(2) The unknowns. We were suddenly without Hernandez with no real way to adjust…they had to figure stuff out after the free agents were basically all gone. We had no real idea what the rookies could do, or if Amendola could fit into the offense. We didn't know Edelman was capable of a 100-catch season. This year, they've had a year under their belts to figure all this stuff out. And

(3) The improvement of the rookies. More experience should equal better quality. Obviously the normal career arc of a player is to improve for a few years before leveling off. That would mean that Thompkins, Boyce, and Dobson are on the front end of that curve, which means they should be improving.

Add to these the intriguing addition of LaFell in particular, another year of experience for Hoo-Man, and hopefully a stud TE in the draft, and the receiving corps should be much better than it was last year, even if most of the players are the same.

This is going to end up being a waste of money. Oh well.

mayoclinic said:

Al Toon

Click to expand...

LOL I do that all the time too. Nick Toon.

Is it required to enter the thread, pretend to be a cap expert (but reveal my ignorance because I don't know any guaranteed numbers or contract structure ) divide the total by years and assume that the contract is structured in three even amounts and complain about his stone hands even though I have only seen him play probably 6 times in the past 3 years for a run first offense? Seems like it from many of the postings here. If so, I apologize.

If not, here are my thoughts. He is an average to just less than average wr who can move all over the field. In case people missed it, the Patriots wr core was significantly less than average last year, which makes him an upgrade. He averaged 17 yards a catch a few years ago. He gives us positional flexibility so that we could utilize certain different wr's based on scheme and insurance against Dobson not recovering or progressing. If he gets outplayed by some younger guys, great. If he doesn't, then that's a sign that they are not ready.

He also is another big body so that we can have a more physical presence in our now more common 1TE sets. He should also be a real asset in the run game. Big runs almost always have excellent perimeter blocking. Frankly, he reminds me a good bit of David Givens. I would rather draft a good line, on either side, in rounds one and two and sign an average wr than sign an average lineman and draft a wr in rounds 1-2. With the money we have parceled out so far in FA, my guess is all signings will be pretty meh now.