New England Patriots: Tom Brady’s top 5 receivers of all time…so far

No. 3 – Wes Welker

It’s a shame that one of the last memories of Wes Welker in a New England Patriots uniform was him dropping a pass in Super Bowl XLVI.

Whether it was a bad pass by Tom Brady or just Welker taking his eyes off the ball a split second, drops weren’t a part of this dynamic connection.

An undrafted player out of Texas Tech, Welker saw his NFL career take off once he was traded to the Patriots.  He was another undersized receiver who relied on quickness, instead of speed, to find the open spot of the football field.

The little engine that could

As part of that historic 2007 offense, Welker was the engine that made the train go.  He was Brady’s go-to man and the ultimate Patriots player.  For that reason, his decision to sign with the AFC rival Denver Broncos late in his career left fans feeling a little bit sour.

In his career, Welker caught 900 passes for 9,905 yards and 50 touchdowns.  With 34 of those TD catches coming from his good friend Tom Brady, Welker is a player who played a major role in No. 12’s Hall-of-Fame career.

As far as playing with Brady, Welker summed up his experience in a 2016 interview Brooke Cersosimo of NFL.com:

"“Everything I learned, the knowledge. We would sit there in the offseason and go over every single route. This is how we wanted it against this coverage or that coverage, so we’d sit there and go over it all. Every time we stepped on the field or I was going to run a route, he knew the coverage, I knew the coverage and he knew exactly where I was going to run it and where I was going to be. It was a perfect set-up.”"