Report: Branch may be on bubble in Seattle

He should sign with the Pats! That would be like a wet dream for me! Moss, Welker, Branch, Galloway, Lewis and Edelman. We'd be unstoppable!

It seems the Branch trade to Seattle was a no win for both sides. Pats did get a 1st rd pick for Branch, but that was also the season of Caldwell and Gaffney where we struggled to move the ball for the first 12 weeks of the season.

He should sign with the Pats! That would be like a wet dream for me! Moss, Welker, Branch, Galloway, Lewis and Edelman. We'd be unstoppable!

Did Meion ever pay back his signing bonus for missing week 1 of the 2006 season?

Branch could land in Denver as I doubt Brandon Marshall will ever see another snap for the Broncos.

sign him.....and he never caught a TD in that Superbowl...boy it is gonna be bad on this site without Reiss.

@fu - The Patriots won't be paying Branch $5 million any time soon. That's about twice as much as Welker gets. Also, the Patriots don't have any big need for any more small receivers. With Welker, Lewis, and Edelman, that's enough. Branch is another receiver who got his payday as the result of playing with Tom Brady. He ought to thank his maker (or Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli) for being drafted by New England.

I'd rather have a new Meriweather than an aged Deion Branch. Any front office can tell you that older 5 foot 9 inch players are rare in this league, because they collide with huge hogs and get injured easily.

Josh McD will definitely snap him up.

Joe The Drunk, I wish that was all there was to it. Then Galloway and Lewis would look good receiving too. But they don't, and neither did Caldwell, Gabriel, and all the other mediocre receivers they've brought in over the years. So obviously Branch was doing something right with New England. Brady seemed to like him.

I'd love to see it happen, because I think the need for a 3rd WR is pretty high, but not at $5M. Also, I wouldn't give up anything higher than a 4th round pick for him, and Seattle may not pull the trigger on that one due to the PR backlash that would ensue (they spent a 1st rounder and only got back a 4th from the same team?).

The TD for Branch in the Super Bowl came against the Panthers, not the Eagles...

If the Pats can sign him and havent changed too much in the offense and Brady feels he can jump in.

My god this offense could be deadly if Branch is released. Basically what the Pats need at that X spot. A WR who can catch the ball and help Welker and Moss.

Its a long shot though

I wish him well, but there's no way he's coming back to NE. Especially at that salary.

Jeff, the Patriots got the last laugh on Branch. Caldwell put up numbers comparable to Branch's numbers with the Patriots, and in non-Superbowl playoff games Branch and Caldwell had the same per-game average of 60 yards receiving. As for being clutch, who was more clutch - Branch burning the Steelers twice in a blowout, or Caldwell burning the Chargers on the game-winning drive of a comeback? People still damn Caldwell because of two drops against Indianapolis, as if they were relevant to anything - ALL receivers (and Branch had his share) have dropped passes at bad times; Caldwell got screwed by getting cut in favor or dimbulb Chad Jackson in 2007.

The Branch trade to Seattle was a win for the Patriots and a loss for Branch - he got his money but the Patriots kept winning, Seattle slumped, and Branch did nothing but prove he wasn't as good as he thought he was.

The only reason Branch is mythologized as a great receiver is because he exploded in two Superbowls - 21 catches for over 250 yards and a touchdown. What this means is that Branch had become the newest version of Larry Brown of the 1995 Cowboys and Timmy Smith of the 1987 Redskins - Superbowl MVPs who were one-shot wonders.

The reality is Branch, despite some hard hits, was a fragile receiver who'd barely escaped IR after two games in 2004, who stepped out of line about his contract, and now may not see much football future.

Sorry folks, if you have seen Branch try and play the past few years he isn't the same guy due to injuries. His last 16 games he has 57-730-7 #s, and that is for a team that threw a lot because they were down early.

He played well against the Pats for a half on pure adrenaline.

He is small, injury prone, and he didn't make any friends on his way out.

People, have we already forgotten the theme for today? Know when it is time to move on.

Branch (who's tied with Welker, Rice and Dan Ross(?) for a record 11 SB catches) Pats days are long over. Declining skills, hi salary/cap hit, injury problems, current Pats WR depth, acrimonious departure, .

Thanks Deion for the contributions/best of luck/sorry if it didn't work in Seattle.

PS: please no more mention of "life without MikeR" so to best maintain my current state of denial.

I would rather have Moss, Welker, and Dieon than Galloway or Lewis. Dieon had a great relationship with Tom, and toppled with the fact he played well in the NE superbowl runs.

If he is willing to sign for cheap why not bring him in?

Branch showed no loyalty to the Pats so there should be none showed him. He's overpaid, easily hurt and never plays a whole season.

Mike Daly - I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on that one. Though there is an argument that part of that trade translated into Randy Moss and, of course, Jarod Mayo, but Deion Branch would have enabled the team to make it to, and possibly win, the SuperBowl in 2006/07. That season, and AFC Championship more specifically, highlighted the lack of receivers. It was obvious the next offseason w/ the acquisition of Moss and Welker. I would imagine Moss might still be here without that trade but Welker I'm not so certain about. The bottom line is a receiver that Brady had a lot of trust in, which was Branch prior to 06, would have put them over the top.

Branch is much better then Lewis, even if he is not 100%
Lewis did nothing in Philadelphia and won't do anything in NE, only good on special teams

Maybe he can be the next Troy Brown but instead of cornerback they could put him in at ILB.

I would trade Branch to the Broncos in a heart beat for one of your awesome O linemen.....

The lack of knowledge of Patriots fans on this post is a letdown. Branch's ship sailed long ago. He is an irrelevant WR in a league in which young, cheap players take old, injured players jobs every day. Those of you pining for a Moss, Welker, Branch threesome need to remember it's 2009, not 2005. He overachieved here, which doesn't say much considering the 5 TD's a year he might get.

Positives: Pat's wouldn't have to pay him $5 Mill if he gets cut. They negotiate a new contract with him. The ramp up time to learn the offense and develop chemistry with Brady would be very short.

Negatives: He just turned thirty and has missed 23% of games in his career due to injury.

He is a 60 catch, 13 ypc avg, 4 TD guy consistently throughout his 7 seasons regardless of injury. No reason to not expect that in 2009 - especially with Brady's love for him.

Do you guys froget, brady loved branch!!! if brady wants him, and the contract is right, why the hell not, its defiantly an upgrade, g.lewis is notthing speacial, and eddleman has tons to leanr as a slot reciever, the problem with the patriots isnt the top 2 recievers! its having the guys under them who can make plays as well, brady has to really distribute the ball well, thats how we won our first three titles!

yeah, like the patriots have never brought in a 30 year old player and seen success. give me a break!

Deion Branch is possibly the most overrated wide receiver in the league. He's long lived off of the success he had in the one Super Bowl game.

He's played a full 16 games just once in his career. He's never had a 1,000 yard season. He's never scored more than five touchdowns in a season.

And he ticked off management on his way out of New England. This guy never should have gotten traded for a 1st in the first place.

Sonny Corleone - that is revisionist history mixed with wistfulness in remembering Branch. The 2006 AFC Championship game saw the Patriots put up 34 points, and Caldwell, Gaffney, etc. made plays to help put up that total. The Patriots lost that game because the defense was sick with the flu and got gassed. The acquisition of Moss and Welker (and Donte Stallworth) came because they were available, not because of the 2006 AFC Title Game.

If Deion Branch was of genuine value he'd have put up competitive numbers in the playoffs with Seattle, and the facts show he didn't - he had just 98 yards of receptions in the 2006 playoffs. He made no clutch plays with the Seahawks in the playoffs.

The facts do not bear out the myth that the Patriots lacked quality receivers because Deion Branch got traded to Seattle.

Gotta disagree. The passing game was noticably weaker in '06. Part of it was due to the loss of Branch, but they also lost Givens to free agency that year. Replacing Branch + Givens with Caldwell + Brown (and later, Gaffney) was an obvious downgrade. I really don't see how people can argue otherwise.

As for Branch's performance in Seattle, I fail to see how it's relevant, to be honest. We're not trying to project how Branch would fit in New England. We KNOW how he'd fit in New England. His lackluster Seattle performance came pretty much immediately after leaving New England. What's more likely: that he SUDDENLY got worse in the '06 offseason, or that he just wasn't a good fit in Seattle?

Look, Branch isn't Randy Moss. He isn't even a legitimate #1 receiver in this league. What he IS, however, is a player with a proven track record in New England with Brady throwing the rock to him. He would be a FANTASTIC #3 receiver for this team ("#3" being the key word here). Far better than stone hands Gaffney was, and certainly better than has-been Galloway or never-was Lewis. ...Assuming he could stay healthy, which IS a legitimate concern.

No MarkkZ, the passing game in 2006 was manifestly not weaker. Replacing Branch and Givens with Caldwell and Gaffney saw a 10-6 team from 2005 go to 12-4 in 2006 - that's no downgrade. Caldwell and Gaffney made clutch catches and kept their mouths shut - Branch made catches, got hurt a lot, and started a contract fight. People can argue it wasn't a downgrade because the facts show it wasn't - the Patriots kept passing, they kept winning. And as I asked before, what was more clutch - Branch catching deep bombs in a blowout of Pittsburgh or Caldwell catching deep bombs in a comeback win over San Diego?

Branch's Seattle performance is relevant because it destroys the myth that Branch was a special receiver who justified the contract squabble he instigated - if he was as good as he thought he was, he'd have put up in Seattle better than what he did with New England, and the reality is he didn't - because he wasn't as good as people thought he was.

The Patriots don't need him anymore. If he wants to come here, he needs to admit he was wrong to start the contract fight that he started.