Stallworth is a Patriot!
The Patriots offseason free agent spending splurge continued today as the Patriots added another high profile player to the team in the form of wide receiver Donté Stallworth. Last year Stallworth played with the Philadelphia Eagles after being traded from the Saints before the 2006 season. He had a relatively productive year with 38 receptions for 725 yards (19.1 yards per catch) and 5 touchdowns. The only really possible downside to Donte is his propensity to get injured. I'm actually not sure if he's played a full season without missing any starts; but remember - David Givens and Deion Branch were also injure prone as well but they both managed to be impact players well they were here. The deal that the Pats signed Stallworth to may be up to 6 years long.
One reason why the Patriots ended up signing Stallworth had to be the deep threat element that he brings. Currently, no wide receiver on the Pat's roster (with the exception of Chad Jackson when he's not in a wheelchair) strikes fear in hearts of DB's or opposing coach's that a Pat's wideout may burn them on a deep bomb. Three to two years ago Beathal Johnson, Ardra Davis or Deion Branch provided this element for teams to worry about. Last year however - the Patriots best option to go deep to was Reche Caldwell.... And Caldwell isn't considered exactly fast so.... In a nutshell - The Patriots didn't have a deep threat so went out and got one. Having one last year would have helped a lot - but that's the past - the time to solve the problem was now - and the Patriots did just that. 
posted by Silas @ Sunday, March 11, 2007
2 Comments:
Donte Stallworth is an upgraded form of Bethel Johnson. I believe he'll be good, but not great... his career has been defined by coming up short to expectations. I firmly believe that he will do well in the Patriots offense, but 6 years...?!?!? At least only 1 of those years is guaranteed, and only 3.5 of the 33.5 million is guaranteed. But what NE needed to do was to get a stronger kind of receiver to replace David Givens, because We already have like 3 replacements for Deion Branch. The Pats shoulda gotten Joe Horn. Speaking of WRs on the market... what do ya'll think about Randy Moss?
Randy Moss as a Patriot would have never worked. He's old, nasty, and stopped playing a long time ago. Also it does look like the Patriots were never interested in him in the first place. Ditto Joe Horn, although he's less nasty then Moss...
We really replaced David Givens last year when we signed Cardwell. Their both stats when you compare them together are almost identical. I disagree with you on the idea that the Pats have already replaced Deion Branch. We replaced David Givens, but we never replaced Deion. Chad Jackson was supposed to do that but then his he pulled ever other muscle that a human can have....
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