Pick a Patriots receiver you like ...

    So will we be seeing the dismantling of the New England Patriots' vaunted wide receiving corps? And is that something that the Panthers might take advantage of?

    New England has unrestricted free agents in wideouts Randy Moss, Jabar Gaffney and Troy Brown. But there's more to this story. Two more receivers are owed huge option bonuses and may not be signed because of that. Donte' Stallworth has an $8 million option bonus scheduled, while Kelley Washington has a $4 million lump sum coming. Both are due before the start of the NFL year in March, and if not paid, both would be UFAs. There's little question that the Pats won't give Stallworth all that money, and it's likely that Washington will walk as well.

         Don't expect to see Moss stay free for long. If the Patriots don't keep him, he'll get a huge package from someone else, and he doesn't fit the character mold that Carolina likes. But what about all
those other guys?

         Stallworth is the cream of the crop (other than Moss, obviously). Just 27, he is 6-feet and 200 pounds, and caught 46 balls for 697 yards and three scores in 2007. He's durable and very fast, and would take considerable pressure off of Carolina's Steve Smith. Gaffney is a 6-1, 200-pound complementary receiver who is just 27 and had 36 catches for 449 yards and five TDs a year ago. At 6-3 and 215 pounds,  Washington is a big possession-type receiver who will turn 29 in August. Used sparingly by the Pats, his career high for catches was 31 in 2004 with Cincinnati. And forget about Brown; he's had a great  career but will be 37 next season. He had 43 catches, but turned them  into just 384 yards in '07.

         It will be interesting to see how the Patriots - and the Panthers - revamp their receiving corps.

- Stan Olson