Here’s why one insider says the Patriots could take a wide receiver in the first round
ESPN Patriots insider Mike Reiss suggests wide receiver is "still in play" at No. 21 overall, despite the Patriots' usual hesitance to draft receivers early.
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Is the dream of the Patriots selecting a first-round wide receiver officially dead after the DeVante Parker trade? Not completely.
When posed that very scenario in a recent ESPN article highlighting each team’s biggest question heading into the draft, Patriots insider Mike Reiss left the door open for New England to break their usual mold and opt for playmaking power outside.
“Wide receiver is still in play if that is the way the board falls, with the key consideration that Nelson Agholor and Jakobi Meyers — two of the top returning pass-catchers — are scheduled for unrestricted free agency after the 2022 season,” Reiss wrote on Thursday.
The question is certainly an interesting one.
The Parker trade no doubt provides an upgrade on the outside for the Patriots, giving them a productive, big-bodied “X” receiver that can make contested catches and win down the field. That could then allow the likes of Agholor and Meyers more room to operate in the slot with Kendrick Bourne benefiting from the extra attention on other receivers.
However, simply adding Parker still doesn’t make wide receiver an overwhelming strength for the Patriots. It just bumps receiver down the list of needs behind the offensive line, linebacker (both off-ball and edge defenders) and cornerback, suggesting New England won’t be inclined to reach for a receiver at No. 21.
On the other hand, Bill Belichick and the Patriots might be able to sit tight and have talented options at wide receiver fall to them.
Of course, top-tier targets like Garrett Wilson, Drake London and Chris Olave will all likely be gone by No. 21, and Alabama speedster Jameson Williams has increasingly been mocked to teams picking ahead of the Patriots in recent draft projections. But that could leave one intriguing option on the board that could be the best receiver in the draft: Arkansas’ Treylon Burks.
Though the Razorbacks receiver has fallen down draft boards due to subpar testing at the NFL Combine and his pro day, Burks offers very good size (6-foot-2, 225 pounds), strong hands, underrated long speed and the ability to win routes both outside and in the slot — something the Patriots will covet.
New England typically doesn’t love receivers that run 3-cone times worse than seven seconds — only two receivers the Patriots have taken since 2009 have been over that threshold. So Burks (7.28 3-cone) wouldn’t fit the Patriots’ MO from that perspective. But he would fit the mold of simply being a good football player at a position the team needs an infusion of young talent at — both now and for the future.
However, Reiss also notes the Patriots typically don’t draft receivers early, only having done so once under Belichick — the ill-fated N’Keal Harry pick in 2019. What’s more: the team hasn’t drafted a receiver in the third round or higher since Aaron Dobson (second round) in 2013. Their draft capital has typically gone toward late-round receivers in recent years when it’s been used on receivers at all.
That said, the Patriots no longer have Tom Brady turning castoffs into Super Bowl heroes. As such, it feels even more likely than usual that Belichick dips into this year’s receiver-rich class. Plus, as Reiss noted earlier this week, the ever-increasing price tags of productive wide receivers in free agency makes it even more imperative to draft young talent at the position, especially for a team that doesn’t like to overspend on the open market.
Though the Patriots might be less likely to go receiver at No. 21 than, say, Round 2 or 3 (which actually produce an above-average rate of All-Pro/Pro Bowl receivers, by the way), the possibility might still be there.
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