Nov 22, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick prior to the game against the New York Jets on Thanksgiving at Met Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

As you probably have heard, today the Pittsburgh Steelers matched the Patriots offer on receiver Emmanuel Sanders. Now, Sanders will be playing for Pittsburgh in 2013 instead of the Pats. The Patriots do get to keep this years third round pick, and they save a bit of cap space in the process. But in my opinion  this is a big blow to New England.

As of right now, the weakest part of the Patriots offense is by far at wide receiver. They have Danny Amendola, Julian Edelman, Donald Jones, Michael Jenkins, and Matthew Slater under contract. Do any of those names scare you? I didn’t think so. With the exception of Amendola, I don’t think any of these guys are capable of being solid starting receivers for the Patriots. I love Edelman and Jenkins, but Edelman is more suited to be a third receiver in an offense, and at this point in Jenkins’ career he is pretty much a fourth or fifth receiver. This leaves the Pats in a bit of a predicament. With tight end Rob Gronkowski’s availability for the start of the season in doubt, the Pats are relatively low on quality offensive weapons. At this point in free agency, the only feasible way to add weapons would be through the NFL draft. With this being said, I hate receivers being drafted high in the draft, just because in general they are very risky picks. However, in this years draft class there are a lot of quality prospects available for the Patriots to choose from.

Justin Hunter is the first guy I would like to see the Patriots draft. Granted, he is projected to be a high second rounder at this point, but I think he has the potential to be great. The Patriots need a big receiver that has the ability to take the top off of a defense. That is the main thing (and only thing) missing from the Pats offensive attack. I think that Hunter could fit perfectly into this role. Hunter is a 6’4 and he runs a 4.36 40 yard dash time. That is pretty damn impressive. Now he is only around 196 pounds and that can present some durability issues and that is one of the risks the Pats may have to be willing to take. He also is very raw, but I think the Pats can really develop this guy into an explosive player in this league.

Two other guys I really like, and think the Pats should draft are Marquise Goodwin of Texas and Markus Wheaton of Oregon State. Goodwin is projected to  go around the fourth round, while Wheaton is more of a second or third round projection. I know a lot more about Goodwin because he went to Texas and I watch pretty much every Texas football game. Goodwin is very explosive, as he ran a 4.21 40 time at the University of Texas pro day. He can really take a top off of a defense if given one on one coverage. He also has very good return skills and can take two yard screen passes and turn them into 90 yard touchdowns. He is a very raw route runner and is very small at 5’9 and 170 pounds, but his ability to take it to the house every time he touches the ball is enough to give him a shot in my opinion. Wheaton is not nearly as explosive as Goodwin, but I think he is a much better receiver prospect. He is a much better route runner, and is just a more polished product. He knows how to get open, and can handle press coverage better than most college football players can. He is fast as well as he ran a 4.40 40 time at Oregon State’s pro day, and while that is not as fast as Goodwin, it is still very impressive.

I know it is just April, and I shouldn’t be freaking out about the receiver depth, but I am. The Patriots pride themselves on their offense, and while I am very optimistic about the defense for 2013, I still think that the offense will be the strength of the team. If they aren’t able to improve their receiving core then, I really doubt that this offense will be as elite as it has been over the past few years. This could create a lot of problems in New England. I trust in Belichick, and I am sure that they will address this situation, but I really hope that they do it sooner, rather than later. The sooner they take care of this then the sooner they can focus on the defensive side of the ball, which despite all of the moves the Pats have made, still needs help.

Oct 27, 2012; Lawrence, KS, USA; Texas Longhorns wide receiver Marquise Goodwin (84) scores a touchdown against the Kansas Jayhawks in the second half at Memorial Stadium. Texas won the game 21-17. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Over the last couple of seasons the Patriots arguably have had the best offense in the NFL. They can create so many mismatches for defenses, and with a quarterback at the helm that is the best at exploiting them, it is pretty hard to stop the Pats. However, one thing that seems to be missing from their offensive machine is speed. If you look at all of their weapons, they are all very good players, but none of them are real fast guys. The Pats offense gets slowed down because defenses basically load up the middle of the field with defenders and force Brady to throw the ball outside. When he does this, the Pats have no one that can beat guys deep with their speed and it causes a lot of problems.

Marquise Goodwin is a guy that I think could help address this need for the Patriots in the upcoming NFL Draft. I am a huge Texas Longhorn fan and because of this I have watched a lot of Goodwin at Texas over the last couple of years. If there is one word that describes Goodwin on the football field, I would have to say it is: Wow! Whenever he touches the ball he can go 80 yards for a touchdown. He is maybe the most electric college football player I have ever seen. Goodwin has incredible speed (4.27 sec 40 yard dash time at the combine) athleticism, and he improved greatly as a receiver while at Texas. Goodwin’s stats at Texas are not all that impressive, but I think the main reason for that is because he had quite a few injuries and he dedicated quite a bit of his time to competing in last year’s Olympics. The fact that Goodwin is an Olympian alone should make the Patriots want to draft him. Anybody with enough athletic ability to compete in the Olympics should be able to do some damage on the football field.

Another reason why I think the Pats should try and select Goodwin is because he can be utilized in so many different ways on the field. He is not just a guy that lines up on the outside and runs a go route. Goodwin can line up in the slot and run underneath routes and make some plays after the catch.  He also can take reverses and always have the ability to take it to the house. I think it is possible that Goodwin can have a big effect on the Patriots offense if he continues to develop and perform at a high level. With all of the talent the Pats have on the inside, and with Brandon Lloyd making some plays outside of the numbers, I think that Goodwin could really exploit some match-ups with his speed. Goodwin is also not projected to be a very high pick because of his size (5’10) and his inexperience at playing the receiver position. This however could be good for the Patriots because they can take Goodwin in a later round which will allow them to use a higher pick on more pressing needs on defense (cornerback, defensive line).

The last reason I think Goodwin would be a good fit for the Patriots is because of his kick-returning ability. The Patriots have really struggled in this area in the last few years, and I don’t think that Devin McCourty is a good fit there. At Texas however, Goodwin showed that he has very good return skills. Combine this with his blazing speed, and I think you could possibly have a top five NFL return man in just a few seasons.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The forty time results are in for Stedman Bailey, and he finished at 4.50 and 4.57. Bailey doesn’t have much speed and most of his measurables are underwhelming, and that’s what is going to make Bailey a real sleep in this draft. If you look at what he did in college on tape and in terms of tangible production, you’ll see that Bailey is deserving of a second-round choice. He will likely fall into the third round, and I hope he falls into the Patriots laps there. Even if the Pats don’t take him, the chance of that happening is enough for me.

Bailey’s forty time will mislead teams, because he is actually good after the catch. More importantly, Bailey can move the chains with good hands and great route-running. He is good at pretty much everything, and Bailey has a chance to be a solid No. 2 wide receiver in the pros.

Marquise Goodwin is the fastest player in this draft class, and he showed it with 4.25 and 4.29 forty times. Goodwin is just so quick in both short and long distances, as the former Texas Longhorns star also ran track. He is a better receiver than his college tape shows, but it is interesting to see that Bailey’s teammate at West Virginia, Tavon Austin, ran a max forty time of 4.25 that was the same speed as Goodwin’s. Austin’s other time was 4.31, so Goodwin still holds the edge speed-wise.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.