Patriots receiver Welker not an unknown anymore

BY TOM ROCK | tom.rock@newsday.com
January 29, 2008

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PHOENIX - The football world was sent into a tizzy when the Patriots pulled off the deal that brought Randy Moss from Oakland to New England for a fourth-round pick. But insiders recognized that an earlier deal with the Dolphins was just as significant.

That was the trade for Wes Welker, who entered the season as one of those "best player you've never heard of" guys but has emerged as one of the best players on one of the best teams of all time.

Though he's only 5-9, 185 pounds, Welker's stature in the Patriots' locker room is immense. Especially among the defensive players who used to have to face him in the slot.

"Pound for pound, Wes is probably the toughest football player in the league," said linebacker Junior Seau, who went on to call him a "little termite."

"There are different types of players in the league," Seau added. "There are guys who want to be great and there are guys who need to be great. He's one of the need guys."

And the Patriots have needed Welker. He - not Moss, not Donté Stallworth, not Kevin Faulk - led the team in receptions with 112. He's also the team's leading receiver in the playoffs, totaling 16 grabs and two touchdowns in two games. Moss has only two postseason catches.

"We got him and we said, 'How did that happen?'" linebacker Tedy Bruschi said of the March 5, 2007, deal that sent a second- and a seventh-rounder to the Dolphins. "To get a player like that, to just give someone up like that. I don't think he's had a statistical year like he's had this year, or even close to it in his past seasons, but I think we always considered him a threat and a guy that we had to focus on first and foremost when it came to the Miami Dolphins' passing offense."

Welker wasn't always front and center in peoples' minds. Texas Tech was the only Division I college to offer him a scholarship, and that was only after another player had backed out of his commitment. He was originally signed by the Chargers as an undrafted free agent, made the team, but was waived after the first game. The Dolphins picked him up, but in three years he started only three games and caught 96 passes.

"You kind of just take it in stride," he said of all the no's and can'ts he encountered on his path to the Super Bowl. "I don't think many people said it to my face. It was probably more behind my back. But they're on the bandwagon now."

The Patriots were early members of that vehicle.

"In playing against us, he killed us just about every time we played him," Bill Belichick said, overstating the statistical reality. In six games against the Pats, Welker never scored a touchdown and had only one game with more than two receptions.

But there was a toughness that emanated from Welker, something that made Belichick think that he could be a Patriot. Welker even showed a little something in other special- teams areas that endeared him to his future coach.

In 2004, Dolphins kicker Olindo Mare was injured in pregame warm-ups and Welker took his place. He kicked off in the game and also nailed a 29-yard field goal. Against the Patriots.

"Just the fact that he went out there and kicked as well as he did against us says something about him as an athlete and a competitor," Belichick said, "and he's been all that for us."

Welker wouldn't cop to any survivor's guilt for getting out of Miami before this season. The symmetry of his old team losing (almost) every game and his new team winning them all was too hard to ignore, but Welker managed to do just that. He said he hasn't spoken to his old Dolphins teammates lately.

He's been a little busy, he said.

IN GOOD HANDS

Regular season receptions

Wes Welker: 112 (27.8%)

Randy Moss: 98 (24.3%)

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