2006 Season Review: Deion Branch

Maybe it's an overly developed sense of pride, but I don't like to link in lieu of providing my own analysis. Sometimes, though, you have to admit when others have done it first and done it better.

This is roughly everything you ever needed to know about Deion Branch going forward:

Bill Barnwell projects Branch's future using his top five similarity scores.

The Hawks attained Branch after week 1 and by week 3, he was on the field. It's impossible to completely understand what impact missing training camp and the pre-season, plus switching systems mid-season, has on a player, but for argument's sake, even the greatest non-QB offensive player in the history of the NFL, Jerry Rice, had troubles when he joined the Hawks mid-season in 2004. In fact, both suffered similar problems: A drop in catch percentage coupled with being targeted less often overall.

Branch is the Hawk's presumed #1 heading into 2007. With four good receivers to spread the ball around to, I'm not certain that Branch will put up awesome fantasy stats, but expect his catch percentage to return to 60+ and don't be surprised if his DVOA returns to the top ten.