New England Patriots Free Agency: Why the Pats Shouldn't Target Plaxico Burress

Throughout the hype and hooplah of the three month period leading up to the 2011 NFL draft, many pundits weighed in with their opinions on why the Patriots needed a wide receiver.

The reasoning was simple enough: In the playoff loss to the hated AFC East rival Jets, the offense was exposed for its lack of a vertical threat.

Simply put, the Patriots had no receivers that the Jets had to respect deep. Bart Scott made sure every fan in New England knew that.

For all the attention the Patriots got for failing to pick up a pass rusher until the sixth round, it was the wide receiver position the Patriots didn't pick up any of.

Enter Plaxico Burress, and the question: Is he the answer to that problem?

He has, after all, averaged over 14 yards per catch in all but two of his seasons: His first and his most recent. Only two of the Patriots receivers—not including Randy Moss—broke that threshold last year: Brandon Tate and Deion Branch.

Patriots fans know first hand the type of damage he can do, and I don't think I need to remind anyone why. I can feel the dirty looks from Patriots fans already.

As it is, however, Comcast SportsNet New England's Tom Curran points out that the Patriots are caught in something of a "Catch-22":

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"There's a high level of institutional knowledge necessary to play well at wide receiver for the Patriots. So while [Wes] Welker and [Deion] Branch may be a lot closer to the end of their physical usefulness than the beginning, it's hard to push away from them. Once the season starts, it comes down to winning games. So the emphasis on developing guys like [Julian] Edelman, [Brandon] Tate and Taylor Price goes out the window as the Patriots prepare for every Sunday's matchup."

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By picking up Plaxico Burress, they would be pushing the young Patriots receivers even further down the depth chart.

And I would suggest it's not quite time to give up on those guys just yet.

Brandon Tate was essentially a rookie after spending most of 2009 on injured reserve. Taylor Price, meanwhile, was essentially a red-shirt last year, spending most of 2010 on the bench or off it as a healthy scratch.

In Layman's terms, we can't write them off just yet because they haven't had enough of a chance to prove themselves. When we finally get back to our regularly-scheduled programming of the 2011 NFL offseason, they will benefit greatly from further engrossing themselves in the system. 

They'll have to settle for Tom Brady's players-only workouts for now.

In the meantime, perhaps they could take a tip from Julian Edelman. As always, I defer to ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss for some of his insight on Edelman:

"When I watched receiver Julian Edelman, I sensed that his hard work this offseason, coupled with some time spent with Tom Brady, has given him even more confidence."

Two parts of this statement really stand out to me.

The first is the time spent with Tom Brady. There's nothing better a young receiver could do than to spend time with his quarterback. It's a great rapport-building exercise. Even if the time spent together has nothing to do with football, it will contribute to their bond as people, which is on an even higher level.

Just think of anytime you and your best friend have finished each other's sentence. It may seem like a coincidence at the time, but really, it's the result of a great deal of rapport.

Who knows if Plaxico Burress would even catch on in New England. As mentioned earlier, it's the receivers that have familiarity and are most comfortable with the system that are the most likely to see the field on Sundays.

With so much time away from the field—away from all things football, for that matter—how rusty Burress is will be anyone's guess.

None of this is to say anything about his character. Concerns about his character led to his ultimate dismissal from the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he was vocally disappointed by his lack of a contract extension prior to the 2008 season.

As for the incident at the night club where he landed himself in jail for almost two years? Yeah, he really shot himself in the leg that time, figuratively and literally. None of this makes him look like the type of guy who's ready to embrace the Patriots way.

Who knows, though; he could have changed in prison. Only time will tell.

At least from an outsider's perspective, it seems there are enough reasonable alternatives to justify staying away from a receiver that could be nothing but trouble.

It's also important to remember, though, that the Patriots offense rolled over all of their competition in the final eight weeks of the  2010 regular season with receivers that can't "stretch the field."

It's not wise to put that game under a giant microscope and say that addressing the lack of a field-stretching receiver will make this offense unstoppable.

Especially not one with as many question marks as Burress, and especially not with the future of the Patriots receiving corps potentially waiting in the wings.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda & Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @erikfrenz.