Under normal circumstances, getting a first-round pick for wide receiver Deion Branch would have to be considered a good trade for the Patriots.
First-round choices are hard to come by these days. Teams know the importance of building through the draft, and the Patriots always seem to have a surplus of picks. They should get three to four extra compensatory picks for lost free agents and they've picked up a late-round choice for backup tackle Brandon Gorin. The Patriots should be in good shape for the future.
But a look at the current state of the wide receiver position shows that the Patriots might have made a mistake. Wide receiver is becoming one of the trickiest positions to draft. It takes time for receivers to learn routes because of all of the adjustment needed. Most first-rounders don't work out. So while getting a first-round pick for Branch is great, chances are the Patriots won't be able to find a receiver as good as Branch in next year's draft.
If you look around the NFL, it's evident drafting a receiver No. 1 doesn't always net you a No. 1 go-to receiver. Arguably, only 10 teams have No. 1 receivers that they picked in the first round -- Larry Fitzgerald (Arizona), Torry Holt (St. Louis), Michael Clayton (Tampa Bay), Michael Jenkins (Atlanta), Troy Williamson (Minnesota), Andre Johnson (Houston), Roy Williams (Detroit), Marvin Harrison (Indianapolis), Lee Evans (Buffalo) and Braylon Edwards (Cleveland).
And look how liberal I had to be to get to 10. Williamson, Edwards and Jenkins might be their team's best receivers, but none of them are actually No. 1 receivers.
That's why the Seahawks were smart in using a No. 1 pick to get Branch. Branch is probably better than any receiver they could draft near the end of next year's first round (where their pick likely will be). Plus, he's signed for six years, giving them three top receivers under long-term contracts -- Branch, Nate Burleson and Darrell Jackson. Even if the Seahawks decide to do something with Jackson after the season because he's been fighting knee injuries the past two year, they have a core of starters to take them through the remainder of Matt Hasselbeck's prime days as quarterback.
Having an extra first-round choice to find a receiver is nice. But finding that receiver is getting very, very difficult. Tom Brady is still adjusting to losing his go-to receiver. It took a lot of work for Brady to develop chemistry with Branch. Branch was a hard worker and a good presence in the locker room. Though Branch didn't have a 1,000-yard season, he came through in the big games and in the playoffs, winning the Super Bowl XXXIX MVP.
But Brady has moved on and so did the Patriots front office. They didn't want to give Branch a Reggie Wayne-type of contract. Wayne, the Colts No. 2 receiver behind Harrison, received a six-year, $39 million deal.
That seemed like a lot at the time, but in reality the Colts put a lot of thought into those numbers. The NFL is entering a new era when it is going to get increasingly harder to find free agents. The salary cap is now at $102 million. Next year it will be at $109 million. There is talk the number will grow to $120 million in 2008. With those types of increases, teams can keep most -- if not all -- of their top players. Free agents are going to be tougher to find for teams in need of players.
The Colts sensed that. They tried to determine Wayne's value to the team. He's one of their best players, so the Colts needed to try to find a way to replace him. Because they have a Super Bowl contender, the Colts figure to be drafting toward the bottom of the first round. Finding a receiver as good as Wayne in that spot would be a crap shoot.
Finally, the Colts determined Wayne would get No. 1 type money on the free agent market, so they paid him and he stayed.
The key is not creating the need to draft a receiver in the first round. Coaches have found great success developing second- and third-round choices because the pressure isn't there. The Eagles gave a sigh of relief when they made the trade for Donte' Stallworth because it eased the job for Reggie Brown.
Brown has all the skills to be a good NFL receiver. He's big. He's fast. He has good hands. But the pressure of being a No. 1 receiver in Philadelphia was going to negatively affect him. Stallworth was an instant success with a 141-yard day against Houston in the opener, and Brown looked much more relaxed as a No. 2.
What the Patriots have to face is the reality that it's going to be a supreme challenge to find a No. 1 receiver to replace Branch. The process started in a sense when they drafted Chad Jackson in the second round. Jackson exploded onto the scene with a fast time in the 40-yard dash at the Indianapolis Combine.
But Jackson hasn't completely shaken hamstring problems and missed a lot of training camp. He's going to need time to develop, and so far, he hasn't been on the field enough to find any chemistry with Brady. The Patriots made a good move in getting Doug Gabriel from the Raiders for a mere fifth-round choice.
At receiver, the Patriots aren't up to the level of last year with Branch and David Givens and it's going to be hard for them to improve too much over the next year.
Free agency probably isn't the answer. Figuring the Eagles will give Stallworth a contract extension, the only starters who currently will be available in unrestricted free agency next year are Dennis Northcutt (Cleveland), Alvis Whitted (Oakland), Drew Bennett (Tennessee), Travis Taylor (Minnesota) and Troy Brown (Patriots).
The Patriots might be tempted to trade for the right receiver. It's not certain that Jerry Porter would be the right fit, but they have to be bold making a move because the draft might disappointment them.
They might consult the Eagles, who have tried everything to give Donovan McNabb a good receiving corps. They invested a first-round choice on Fred Mitchell, who wasn't up to being a No. 1 receiver. Finally, they got desperate and tried Terrell Owens. That ripped apart the locker room.
The easiest thing might have been to kick in some more money and pay Branch. At least they knew what they had in him. Now, the Patriots enter a strange age of uncertainty at the receiver position.
John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.