Is Deion Branch Worth a Huge Contract?
Ah, being the new guy. My name’s Bill Barnwell, and welcome to the first in what will be a weekly series of pieces covering the Patriots through the critical lens of Football Outsiders. For those of you not familiar with the website, our aim is to bring objective analysis to football; to provide a cliche – and assumption-free look at football through research. The most recent version of our yearly book, Pro Football Prospectus 2006, was recently released and can be purchased on Amazon.com. The creation of the website was announced in these very pages in 2003, and Bruce Allen has previously contributed to the site. Our work can be read both on our website, Foxsports.com, and the New York Times, among others. I really wanted to write a column weighing the potential replacements for Adam Vinatieri in this season’s Papa Gino’s commercials (Ken Walter? Jonathan Sullivan? Diet Pepsi Machine? Would that even be allowed?), but without any real research, rhyme, or reason, this is going to be co
