I did find this ... rejoice all you haters of Denver. The Broncos now have 3 of the guys that were in the top 7 of this vaunted category in 2012. Call me crazy, but I'll take the risk with this trio and Manning.
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...ide-receivers/
They also have this 3-year data that was posted in 2012, so I believe this is 2009-2011 data.
https://www.profootballfocus.com/blo...ide-receivers/
So, if I read this right ... from 2009-2011, Welker was #2 in drops (32) behind Marshall (35) and just ahead of White (30).
2009-2012 Welker had:
Targets: 605
Catchable: 496 (not sure how they create that stat)
Receptions: 449
Drops: 47
Yards: 5,119
TDs: 26
Drops 7.7% of the Targets
Drops 9.4% of the Catchable Targets
Through 4 seasons ... that's not incredibly too concerning for me. Some always remember the clutch drops, but quickly forget the amazing catches that he did make. So, when I look at the drops - yes, they're high, but so is everything else in the stats category. Throw 10 nice passes to him, he'll catch 9 of them... sign me up for all that.
The other thing is this - they really relied on Welker more than they should have due to injuries to other players or lack of options in the ground game. So, there was more pressure on him to produce and be the man than there should have been at times, in my opinion.
And, he is certainly worth the 2 Year $12M investment in my opinion.