A Win-Win Deal
The stalemate between the New England Patriots and disgruntled wide receiver Deion Branch finally came to a close on Monday. A day after Mike Holmgren and his coaches watched a brutal offensive performance by their Seattle Seahawks, Seattle traded their first round draft choice in the upcoming 2007 draft for Branch.
From the Seahawks' point of view, the trade was a virtual must-do. Seattle has a receiving corps that lost their most consistent receiver in Joe Jurevicius to free agency and tight end Jerramy Stevens to injury, not to mention their current top three receivers each have their own inconsistencies. Darrell Jackson has a reoccurring knee injury that has prevented him from practicing consistently for over a year, Bobby Engram has hands that seem to fail him on a regular basis and Nate Burleson is another in the long line of NFL receivers who is loaded with talent but just seems to lack the desire. What they get in Deion Branch is a hard working, great route runner who has a huge heart. Branch might be undersized compared to the top wide receivers in the league, but he has a desire to win unlike a lot of his counterparts throughout the league.
From a Patriots fan’s perspective, I think this trade is a home run. All I keep hearing about is that the New England front office is robbing Tom Brady of all of his weapons. This is so far from the truth it drives me crazy. The offense is all about Brady and the offensive line. The Patriots do not need to spend on big money wide receivers to win titles. If you don’t believe me, then just look back and check out who the starting receivers were during Brady’s three Super Bowl wins. By the end of this season, Branch will not be missed in Foxborough, and giving Scott Pioli and Bill Belichick another first round draft pick is pretty much like giving Bill Gates a lottery ticket that most likely will pay out big. It’s really just unfair to the rest of the NFL.
From the Seahawks' point of view, the trade was a virtual must-do. Seattle has a receiving corps that lost their most consistent receiver in Joe Jurevicius to free agency and tight end Jerramy Stevens to injury, not to mention their current top three receivers each have their own inconsistencies. Darrell Jackson has a reoccurring knee injury that has prevented him from practicing consistently for over a year, Bobby Engram has hands that seem to fail him on a regular basis and Nate Burleson is another in the long line of NFL receivers who is loaded with talent but just seems to lack the desire. What they get in Deion Branch is a hard working, great route runner who has a huge heart. Branch might be undersized compared to the top wide receivers in the league, but he has a desire to win unlike a lot of his counterparts throughout the league.
From a Patriots fan’s perspective, I think this trade is a home run. All I keep hearing about is that the New England front office is robbing Tom Brady of all of his weapons. This is so far from the truth it drives me crazy. The offense is all about Brady and the offensive line. The Patriots do not need to spend on big money wide receivers to win titles. If you don’t believe me, then just look back and check out who the starting receivers were during Brady’s three Super Bowl wins. By the end of this season, Branch will not be missed in Foxborough, and giving Scott Pioli and Bill Belichick another first round draft pick is pretty much like giving Bill Gates a lottery ticket that most likely will pay out big. It’s really just unfair to the rest of the NFL.
posted by marinjos at 5:35 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home