Don't forget, Troy was still #2 in receptions last year (behind Caldwell).
But this is what the Pats do every year. Bring in about 100 WRs and try them out during camp only to have them inevitably fall into one of the following categories:
1. Release the guy nobody wanted anyway.
2. Release the guy who didn'y play last year due to injury, but they tried him out to see if they catch a sleeper.3. Leave a 1st or 2nd year Free Agent WR on the practice squad (a la Bam Childress) until someone inevitably gets hurt or benched.
4. The slacker who gets benched and eventually PIP'd or, worse, just left off the active list each week (my money's on Chad Jackson this season).
5. Sign a FA WR, try him out, keep him on the practice squad, release him, sign him, release sign him, release him. This all happens within a 72 hour period. Then Week 8 of the season will roll around and they will re-sign the guy and he'll be starting opposite Troy Brown because Randy Moss has turf toe, Reche "Saucer Eyes" Caldwell has a case of the dropsies, Donte reverts to Donte from New Orleans, and Wes Welker is discovered to really be a disguised Tim Dwight after he let his hair grow 2 inches.
TRUST ME, this will all happen.
And still, at the end of the season, you will look at the stats and see that Troy Brown, again, ranks in the top 3 WR stats on the Pats despite signing a minimum veteran deal, giving his heart and soul on the field, not to mention playing DB/PR/KR as much as he will be a WR. He's a chameleon. Just when you think he's not there, he pops up in 1 of any number of places, always doing something positive when you look back on Monday at the game reel.
