This article originally appeared in the July 18 issue of Patriots Footall Weekly. To subscribe, click here.

Remember when Randy Moss was at his dominant best in 2007? Records fell and jaws dropped by the week as the future Hall of Famer galloped under Tom Brady's bombs en route to a magical 16-0 regular season.

Ever since Moss left in 2010, however, fans have clamored for his replacement. Talk of a deep threat to take pressure off the underneath guys has permeated the region every year despite the fact that Tom Brady has directed one of the most lethal and efficient offenses in the game annually ever since.

For the most part, the talk has been largely overblown. Brady didn't need Moss to post eye-popping numbers and the Patriots didn't need him to continue winning at extraordinarily high levels. In fact, the two Super Bowl titles New England has captured in the last three years are exactly two more than the Moss teams ever won.

So, no, the Patriots didn't need a Moss replacement, but that doesn't mean Bill Belichick and the rest of New England aren't happy to have one.

Robert Kraft himself described Brandin Cooks as having the ability to fill a role like Moss did back in the day, and now the former Saint takes his abundant skills to Foxborough, where Brady will almost certainly find ways to utilize his off-the-charts speed and quickness.

In reality, Cooks is a much different animal than Moss. At 5-10 and 189 pounds, Cooks is nowhere near as big as Moss and doesn't line up on the outside anywhere near as often. But like Moss he has the knack for making big plays from anywhere on the field and his home run ability could provide an entirely different element to the passing game in 2017.

As productive as the Patriots have been for the most part, there have been times when things bogged down. Usually that's been due to inconsistent pass protection, but an inability to beat man coverage has at times been responsible as well.