WR?....who will we add?

[EKnight]

Grrrr. This is what pisses me off- while Miami did nothing to significantly upgrade the WR position, and in fact, DOWNGRADED the production on the field trading away Marshall, the Patriots went out and picked up Donte Stallworth, Brandon Lloyd, Anthony Gonzalez, and now Jabar Gaffney, in addition to resigning Chad Johnson and Deion Branch. While Miami has done SQUAT in terms of free agency, getting no one to help their QB of the future, New England now has like 12 WRs under contract. They now have 6 different guys who caught for over 700 yards last year, and 5 who were at or close to 1000 yards. And please don't give me the "there's not enough balls to go around" crap. With Brady and Belichick, there certainly are. Hope those late round LBs and RBs Miami drafted help to somehow keep up with the Pats when they're dropping 50 on everybody again this year. WTF, Ireland? Sign SOMEBODY. -EK

[Diehard_Dolfan]

Grrrr. This is what pisses me off- while Miami did nothing to significantly upgrade the WR position, and in fact, DOWNGRADED the production on the field trading away Marshall, the Patriots went out and picked up Donte Stallworth, Brandon Lloyd, Anthony Gonzalez, and now Jabar Gaffney, in addition to resigning Chad Johnson and Deion Branch. While Miami has done SQUAT in terms of free agency, getting no one to help their QB of the future, New England now has like 12 WRs under contract. They now have 6 different guys who caught for over 700 yards last year, and 5 who were at or close to 1000 yards. And please don't give me the "there's not enough balls to go around" crap. With Brady and Belichick, there certainly are. Hope those late round LBs and RBs Miami drafted help to somehow keep up with the Pats when they're dropping 50 on everybody again this year. WTF, Ireland? Sign SOMEBODY. -EK

Might as well get over it... both Philbin and Ireland have said they look for talent through the draft and aren't big on free agents!  There were a few receivers i would have love to see Miami go after but, "It Is what It Is"

[Phishfan]

Grrrr. This is what pisses me off- while Miami did nothing to significantly upgrade the WR position, and in fact, DOWNGRADED the production on the field trading away Marshall, the Patriots went out and picked up Donte Stallworth, Brandon Lloyd, Anthony Gonzalez, and now Jabar Gaffney, in addition to resigning Chad Johnson and Deion Branch.

I think you are ranting just to rant. Stallworth had a whopping 309 yards & Gonzalez has barely touched a field since 2008. Also saying Ochocinco was resigned was a bit of an exaggeration. They restructured his deal because of his poor showing last years.

LLoyd & Gaffney are pretty good pickups though.

[EKnight]

Stallworth and Gonzalez are better than any of the pickups Miami made. I wouldn't be shocked if the kid from Carolina never sees a down this year. -EK

[MaineDolFan]

LLoyd *might be* a good pick up.  The guy has been in the league for ten years.  People forget that.  He's had one break out season and suddenly he's the next coming of Jerry Rice.

Semi Maine rant, because I'm tired of listening to all of the Pats fans on the radio up here who seem to think LLoyd is Randy Moss Lite:

212
565
733
365
14
364
117
1,448
966

Those are his career numbers.  Decent, at best.

New England had Jabar Gaffney for three years and let him walk.  He is basically a mirror image of Lloyd with 5,622 yards since 2002 to Lloyd's 4,784 since 2003.  Decent numbers.  Not great.  Gonzalez gets hurt when the wind blows too hard, Ochocinco had 276 yard last year, Stallworth is 156 years old...

So - basically - who cares?  New England signed a few guys with pedestrian numbers (at best), a couple other guys who are injury cases...and now the world seems to think they are loaded for bear.  I'm not buying it.

Brian Hartline had 560 yards last year.  Bess had 537.  That's with Moore coming in half way through the season and Marshall and Bush getting the King's ransom of balls thrown their way.  I think Hartline and Bess are as good as Lloyd and Gaffney are.  Factor in other weapons (I really liked Clay out of the back field - the kid had almost 300 yards and is a beast), Reggie Bush, etc.

The WR position is like the closer position in baseball.  Yes, there are certain guys you go into camp with that you know are going to perform (Calvin Johnson / Mo Rivera).  But every season a handful of closers you've never heard of come out of nowhere to post sub 2.70 ERA / 35 save seasons...and wideouts you've never heard of before catch 800-1,000 worth of passes.

I personally feel Miami has the stability in the coaching staff the actually focus on the passing game again (RIP Wildcat) and decent arms at the QB position.  I think we will be fine at WR.

[EKnight]

We agree to disagree then. At the end of the year let's revisit and see who had better years- NE's pickups or Miami's. -EK

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

We agree to disagree then. At the end of the year let's revisit and see who had better years- NE's pickups or Miami's. -EK

One of them is going to have a rookie throwing at them, the other is gonna have Tom Brady tossing them the ball. 

NE's wide recievers are gonna look better either way. 

Thing with WR is it typically takes a couple of years of the same QB/WR/system combo for the WR to be hitting on all cylinders.

[EKnight]

What? What rookie? Tannehill's not getting playing time this year- at least not enough to count. Pointing out that Brady is throwing to these guys solidifies my point. While the team with the best passing game in the division- probably top the three in the entire league- doesn't sit around doing nothing, they just get better and better and deeper and deeper, Miami downgraded the second most "needed" area in the off season. -EK

[Diehard_Dolfan]

What? What rookie? Tannehill's not getting playing time this year- at least not enough to count. Pointing out that Brady is throwing to these guys solidifies my point. While the team with the best passing game in the division- probably top the three in the entire league- doesn't sit around doing nothing, they just get better and better and deeper and deeper, Miami downgraded the second most "needed" area in the off season. -EK

If you got Tom Brady throwing to your receivers they don't really have to be that good!  Just because they have them doesn't mean they are going to do much with them... Chad Ochocinco didn't do jack shit last season!  Randy Moss his last yr did nothing special there...  Moss now is still better than all those guys they picked up!!!

Again, I point out which of Green Bay's receivers other than Donald Driver did anyone know before Greg Jennings decided to step up?   Jordy Nelson or Jennings were not highly sought after receivers coming out of college.

[EKnight]

Chad didn't do anything because he wasn't smart enough to figure out the system, not because he wasn't talented enough. To make the argument that Moss- who was let to by THREE different teams last year- is better than Lloyd or Gaffney is silly talk. Either way, you're missing my point. It's frustrating watching Miami trade away its only great receiver for beans, pass on every good free agent, pass on some very good draft WRs, and watch the Pats- who need more receivers like I need an infected scrotum- just keep loading up. The rich keep getting richer, while Miami reaches on a QB, drafts LBs and RBs instead of receivers, and ignores their AWFUL secondary altogether. -EK

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Actually WR is a need for NE. 

[EKnight]

Lol how? They had a 1500+ yard receiver last year, and another one at 900. And now they have what- 12? 15? Guys under contract? They don't need any more receivers. The Gaffney signing was just greedy. -EK

[MikeO]

Actually WR is a need for NE. 

Yep. And NE has a ton of cap space while Miami has no cap space! And Miami can't afford to overpay for marginal players right now. ESPECIALLY when they are rebuilding and those marginal players stunt the growth of the kids and won't result in any more "WINS" at the end of the year.

It's plain as day that Miami is in  "rebuilding mode" on offense and most fans know it. But even the fans who do know it will then get upset and get irked when the Dolphins don't do a "WIN NOW" move and non-rebuilding mode move (like sign Gaffney). I really don't get the logic or why anyone would be upset. It's foolish, just look at what they are doing on offense!

Ireland and Philbin have a plan and are sticking to the plan. EVERY position wasn't going to get addressed this offseason. WR is clearly the position that wasn't getting addressed. They are clearly ignoring the position yet some still get upset when they see a Jabar Gaffney on the market and the Fins don't make a play for him.

You carry 5 WR's usually on a roster. Bess, Hartline, and Gates are locks to make the team. Leaving Nanee, Moore, Wallace, Cunningham, Marshall, and Fuller realistically fighting it out for 2 spots. And lets be honest, most teams don't cut their rookies in year 1. And someone like Cunningham a 6th round pick won't last long on the practice squad unless he has a god awful training camp, so odds are he is making the team.

[Pappy13]

Miami downgraded the second most "needed" area in the off season. -EK

That's the real question isn't it. How do they compare to last year? So rather than compare NE's pickups to Miami's perhaps a better comparision is Miami's WR's in 2011 to Miami's WR's in 2012.

[EKnight]

I'd take that bet in a heartbeat. So, what this year's WR core would have to outperform would be:

170 receptions
2327 yards
10 TDs

Don't see that happening. The receptions maybe- but only because WCO does a lot of dink and dump short passes. No chance in hell they get 2000+ receiving yards, and I don't see the WRs getting 10 TDs. GB's receivers got about 2700 yards and 30 TDs, and that was with Rodgers passing for nearly 4700 and 45. No QB in Miami is slinging the ball like that. -EK