Pats resign Edelman as well (one year deal).
If they get Sanders:
Sanders
Donald Jones
Amendola
Edelman
Michael Jenkins
Hernandez
Gronk
Ballard
If this group can get/stay healthy, this is a better overall receiving core than 2012.
Health is the key thing.
I'll be honest, I don't see what the Pats see in Sanders and Jones.
I also don't understand why they are only making a one year deal for Sanders. If they really want him, why not multiple years? I'm guessing it has something to do with the expectation that there will be even less money in the NFL for FAs next year (ie: there will be even more teams at the cap), putting the Pats back in the driver seat again.
I think the logic behind the one year deal is that they are mitigating their risk by giving him a year to prove himself before signing him to a multiple year deal. We've seen in the past some fairly talented wideouts come in and not mesh with Brady or be able to pick up the system and a guy like Sanders who has the talent, but hasn't actually put together the best resume isn't someone they want to lock in on long term until they know he works out. They're leaving their options open to walk away and use that same money to go out and try to get a guy next year if this doesn't pan out.
Keep in mind they are giving up a 3rd rounder, which they could have used to sign a rookie WR in a fairly deep class (not sure things by any means, but talent throughout) who would come much much cheaper.
I do think the fact that there will still be quite a few teams out there tight on money comes into play both in terms of the Patriots thinking they can resign Sanders to good money on an extension as well as in terms of getting some better players whose market value will be lower simply because there isn't enough money to go around (like we saw with the CB market this year).
I haven't seen much of Jones (but he comes cheap) so I can't speculate on him, but Sanders definitely fits into the versatile player mold that Bill values so much.
