It’s no secret in New England that the Patriots have longed for upgrades in the wide receiver room. According to Pro Football Focus, the Patriots finally addressed this need during the 2024 off-season and ranked the Patriots as the most improved receiving corps in the NFL.
By taking two wide receivers in the first four rounds of the 2024 NFL draft and adding a pass-catching tight end in the seventh round, who many believe will make the roster, the Patriots addressed their lack of impact playmakers on the outside. Pro football focus loved the second-round selection of Washington wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk.
“New England used the No. 37 overall pick to select Washington’s Ja’Lynn Polk, who excels in the middle of the field, as evidenced by his 94.0 receiving grade on intermediate passes and 97.1 grade on deep passes between the numbers. Polk should also serve as a blocking asset from day one”, Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus wrote.
PFF also boasted about the Patriots’ fourth-round selection, Javon Baker, a playmaking wide receiver out of Central Florida who started his collegiate career at Alabama.
“But the Patriots weren’t done there. Wolf scooped up UCF’s Javon Baker at Pick No. 110, a standout in advanced metrics despite not being a household name in the pre-draft process. Baker is a tremendous deep threat, with his average target coming 17.1 yards downfield during the 2023 season — the third-highest mark among FBS receivers with 80-plus targets. The former Knight has already captured fans’ attention because of some supreme self-confidence, too”, explained Locker.
PFF ranked the New England Patriots just ahead of the New York Giants, Los Angeles Chargers, and Carolina Panthers on the list.
Rookie Pass Catchers Can Make a Big Impact
The 2023 NFL season was a testament to the wisdom of fortifying a team’s passing arsenal through the draft. Case in point: the Green Bay Packers. Their rookie class from that year proved instrumental, and they carried the Packers with first-year starting quarterback Jordan Love to an upset win at Dallas in the wildcard round of the 2023 NFL playoffs. In the divisional round, the Packers ultimately fell to the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers, but PFF acknowledged how impactful rookie pass catchers can be.
“Just look at the Green Bay Packers, whose 2023 rookies accounted for 53.4% of the team’s receiving yards — headlined by breakouts Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks“, Locker explained.
But the Patriots hope to see an impact from more than just the rookie additions. They also added K.J. Osborn in free agency, an established young wide receiver many hope can have a breakout season in New England with more opportunities to make plays. Osborn was sometimes an afterthought in a loaded Vikings wide receiver room. As a veteran now in New England, he should receive more opportunities to make some big-time plays.
A Potential Seventh-Round Steal For New England
With their seventh-round pick, the New England Patriots selected Florida State tight end Jaheim Bell. Following a successful one-year stint at Florida State, where Bell had a career-high 503 receiving yards, the 22-year-old participated in the Senior Bowl, where Patriot great Troy Brown coached him. Evan Lazar of Patriots.com sat with the director of the Senior Bowl, Jim Nagy, to ask about Bell.
“I’m doing day three of the draft for Sirius Radio, and they’re asking me who’s still left out there. Jaheim Bell was sticking out like a sore thumb,” Senior Bowl director Jim Nagy told Patriots.com. “I know going into the draft, the focus up there was on playmakers. To get a guy like that in the seventh round is an exciting pick. He’s a guy I’ve never thought wouldn’t make a 53-man roster next fall.”
Many might ask if Bell is good enough to make a 53-man roster; how did the Patriots get him down in the seventh round? The answer probably stems from Bell’s size. Nagy explained why Bell could have fallen so far.
“I was really surprised that he was still there [in the seventh round]. I’ve done some calls around the league to try to figure that out over the last couple of days,” Nagy said. “I feel like the league, in general, has done a better job over the years taking guys we used to label as tweeners. Sometimes, when guys don’t fit perfectly for a certain role, some teams just aren’t real creative with it.”
For 6’2 and 241 pounds, Bell would be considered undersized for the modern tight end. But he also runs better than most tight ends and has displayed elite pass-catching ability. This is why he is labeled, as Nagy called it, a “tweener.” It is not quite the height of a traditional tight end, but it is also not quite the elite speed of an NFL-wide receiver. However, as director of the Senior Bowl, Nagy has seen several NFL prospects over the years. And for him to go on record to say he always saw Bell as a guy who would easily make an NFL roster speaks volumes for how good Bell could be.
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