I interrupt the semi-official bereavement leave I’ve been on because we have a crucial matter to discuss.
One I’d be talking about with my brothers if they were still here.
The Patriots are rolling into the second half(ish) of the season.
Unlike their league worst offensive line, the failure of the wideouts is not due to neglect.
Sure, they could’ve signed some veterans with more going for them than KJ Osborn.
And aside from Douglas, have produced the wide receiver equivalent of the Harris-Walz campaign.
(Not talking politics; just trying to keep the references current.)
These picks so are are not about instantly turning this franchise - this offense in particular - around immediately.
Yes, Polk posted 1,159 yards and 9 TDs in Washington last year.
And has had an average of 16.8 YPC in each of the last two seasons.
But like Maye, he’s not a finished product.
He’s not a plug-and-play rookie like so many guys still on the board are.
This is another case of Wolf’s staff looking ahead.
Just not this year.
And the early returns from Polk?
They rank him asthe leagues worst wide receiver.
But hey, things can’t be all bad with this year’s rookie wideouts, right?
Except he’s not.
Like I said in the headline, this problem is historic when it comes to this franchise.
There’s no need to run down the list, but it is long and undistinguished.
Wide receiver is the crappiest crapshoot in all of sports.
In the mid-2000s, Matt Millen famously drafted four receivers in the Top 10 over a five-draft span.
And out of those he got Calvin Johnson, the league’s first 0-16 team, and fired.
Besides, I could always fall back the successes on the Pats.
Like Deion Branch and Julian Edelman.
That’s one of the reasons I was OK with Mr. Kraft finally making a coaching change.
But those factors no longer apply.
I might be mentioning this for the first time, but Tom Brady is no longer here.
And the yet one constant remains.
For every Pop Douglas, there’s a handful of Thorntons, Polks and Bakers.
The problem here is systemic, even though it’s a new system.
And a new quarterback.
One who’s being done dirty by the whole lot of them.
And essentially doing it without much in the way of help:
I wish I had an explanation.
It could be the coaching.
Tyler Hughes is the wide receivers coach after working with Polk as an offensive assistant last year.
He worked for the Pats before that, from 2020-22.
Everything changes, but the highly-drafted wideouts remain the same dog’s breakfast they’ve always been.
Maybe the wide receiver room has a gas leak.
This can’t continue.
