If everyone in the country thinks you have one of the worst receiving cores, well you probably have one of the worst receiving cores.
Our team had the second most drops in the NFL and we werent close to being as pass heavy as other years
The majority of those drops came early in the year when every throw went to Thompkins and Dobson, and neither they nor Brady looked as comfortable as they did by the end of the season.
The only need on offense is a TE who can catch a ball.
I agree, for the most part.
If you look at how the offense was constructed just a couple years ago when it was dominating the league, you had two matchup-nightmare TEs, a dominant slot receiver, and a couple of complementary backs in Woodhead and BJGE.
The offense and the playbook the past few years has been premised on having dynamic pass-catching TEs who can make plays in the middle of the field and get you yards after the catch. Brady is not a deep ball / outside the numbers guy and really has never been that guy except when he had a HoFer in Randy Moss to throw to.
This year, if it weren't for the loss of Hernandez and Gronkowski, I maintain that the wide receiver group would have been more than adequate. You can replace Welker with Edelman and Amendola quite easily if you have the top receiving options at TE they expected to have.
Now, heading into next year, you don't have Hernandez and you don't know when Gronk will be back or what you can expect from him when he is. So it's going to be a tall order to get some TEs in here who can make plays. Simply having checkdown workhorses like Mulligan and Hoomanawanui isn't going to cut it. Not by a mile.