There is a bit of a chicken/egg thing going on here though, in fairness, which goes back to one of my earlier points in that a true #1 outside threat will not have the same impact on every team, as it does on a team like the Patriots. When you're talking about the quality of the wide receiving corps on a team, I don't think you can really do so without also mentioning their QB. Dallas' receiving corps looked awful last year, in large part, because they had to catch passes from Matt Cassell, Weeden, and Kellen Moore, and not Tony Romo. Tom Brady has done quite a bit with guys a lot less talented than Jason Witten, Terrence Williams and Cole Beasley. I'd venture to say that Brady could probably turn all three of them into 1,000 yard receivers (in Witten's case, again).Shit, Brady won a Super Bowl with David Givens as his #1 receiver, and two years later, he threw for 3,500 yards, 24 td's and 12 picks and went 12-4 with Reche Caldwell catching the most passes. For most of his career, the Patriots have not only not been top heavy at wide receiver, they've been downright shitty. You don't think Brady could turn a guy like Beasley into the next Welker/Edelman? If not them, then Amendola? I sure do. Has any Patriots receiver ever left New England and had the same success they had here? Nobody has done more with less, IMO, than Brady has in his career, and now, when they've given him a set of weapons on the inside and down the seam that makes it brutal to defend them, there is one more piece that could make them unstoppable (particularly if Dion Lewis returns to what he was to start last year). That's why a #1 on this team, at this point in time (and going back to when Gronk got here), would have a completely different effect than it would on most teams.
Atlanta had to go out and get someone because father time caught up to Roddy White. It was going to happen eventually. But again, Matt Ryan, Andy Dalton, Stafford, whoever Arizona had pre-Palmer, etc. These guys aren't Tom Brady. If you take away the #1 weapon from almost any QB not named Brady, the team will suffer. It's not a salary cap issue, or top heavy issue, it's a talent at QB issue. There are only a handful of guys like Brady that can lose their #1, and still succeed. In fact, Aaron Rodgers did just that when they lost Jordy Nelson last year. But we also saw Rodgers struggle (31 td's, 8 interceptions is weird to call a struggle) more than we have in many years. Nelson makes a huge difference to that team. They were still very good without him, but he gives them another dimension go along with Randall Cobb, Richard Rodgers, James Jones, Starks/Lacy out of the backfield, that takes them from a really, really good offense, to a borderline historically good offense. IMO, in that sense, they are a very good comp to the Pats, when you eliminate Nelson.
I don't want to keep beating a dead horse, so this will be my last post for now on this topic. This Patriots team should be an odds on favorite to win the Super Bowl until Brady retires. And that's just fine. I just honestly believe that the one position and the only position that could have, and still could, increase those odds dramatically is the #1 wide receiver. When I see Manning tossing ducks to Demaryius Thomas, Big Ben hitting Antonio Brown, Rodgers to Nelson, Eli to OBJ, Brees to Colston (when they were good), and then I think back to the Moss years, I just dream of what could be....Not coincidentally, those QB's account for every Super Bowl victory dating back to the Patriots run from 2001-2005, except for Russell Wilson and Joe Flacco. These are the guys that make that #1 wide receiver so, so much more important, than a #1 wide receiver would mean for a team like Atlanta or Detroit. These are QB's that already turn average receivers into weapons, but turn weapons into unstoppable juggernauts. Montana had Rice, Bradshaw had Swann, Aikman had Irvin...The champions and the true greats at QB, almost to a man, had a #1, except Brady. You know who didn't have that true #1 their entire career? Dan Marino. But I digress. Give TB those weapons just one more time, and he'll rip the doors off the defenses in this league.