Wide Receivers depth chart

[Wozzy]

If you know that we can get the same production from Nixon or Thornton, I suggest that you play the lottery.

Absent injuries, there is no way to know before the season starts.

I never said they would get similar production (or better) than Agholor's best, I said if they did they could easily move on from Agholor.

He is basically on a one year deal at this point and his contract isn't that unwieldy, plus he is a known commodity around the league.

They could learn this by the end of camp and preseason, if they have a tough time making cuts to get down to 53, some team that suffered WR injuries in preseason will be looking for help.

 

[crawhammer]

I never said they would get similar production (or better) than Agholor's best, I said if they did they could easily move on from Agholor.

He is basically on a one year deal at this point and his contract isn't that unwieldy, plus he is a known commodity around the league.

They could learn this by the end of camp and preseason, if they have a tough time making cuts to get down to 53, some team that suffered WR injuries in preseason will be looking for help.

Agholor's dead cap (if he were to released or traded) for the 2022 season is $10,000,000. Seems like that makes him a lock to be on the roster.

I don't get the fascination with Tre Nixon either. He's a 7th round draft pick who's about 8th on the WR depth chart. He has a better chance of never registering an NFL reception than beating out at least 6 of the players currently in front of him.

Parker, Bourne, Agholor, Meyers, TE Henry, and some combination of the RBs are going to be the main targets of the passing game in 2022. That group and an above average quarterback should provide plenty of offense/scoring (even with whichever goofball calling the plays). And they're going to have a top 10 running game. The defense is far more of a concern heading into the season.

 

[Wozzy]

Agholor's dead cap (if he were to released or traded) for the 2022 season is $10,000,000. Seems like that makes him a lock to be on the roster.

The team trading for Agholor would have to eat his contract. That might lower the return compensation, but that’s the cost of doing business.

I don't get the fascination with Tre Nixon either. He's a 7th round draft pick who's about 8th on the WR depth chart. He has a better chance of never registering an NFL reception than beating out at least 6 of the players currently in front of him.

Stefon Diggs was a 5th rounder, so was Tyreek Hill, Edelman was a 7th, Troy Brown was an 8th… the 8th round doesn’t even exist anymore. Amendola and David Patten were UDFA’s. When will fans learn draft position has no bearing whatsoever once the pads come on?

What does Nixon have; similar height to Agholor, a lot stronger exiting college, good agility, explosion and most of all legit 4.4 speed. We had one WR on the entire roster last year who ran a sub 4.5 forty... Agholor. The “weapons” crowd are always begging for speed, but whatever the Pats do isn’t right… even if they bring in multiple fast weapons like Nixon, Thornton and possibly Marcus Jones.

Parker, Bourne, Agholor, Meyers, TE Henry, and some combination of the RBs are going to be the main targets of the passing game in 2022. That group and an above average quarterback should provide plenty of offense/scoring (even with whichever goofball calling the plays). And they're going to have a top 10 running game. The defense is far more of a concern heading into the season.

We’ll see what shakes out in camp. Agholor and Meyers don’t have a contract beyond this season. If every WR stays healthy, produces and the young guys (Nixon, Wilkerson, Thornton) emerge as a force then don’t be surprised if a trade happens.

The offensive line also has to gel for the offense to be good, the entire unit needs to stay healthy and execute. Beyond that they should be very good.

I agree the defense is the bigger question mark, too many unknowns, a lot has to go right with young players.

 

[mgteich]

They could learn this by the end of camp and preseason.

I disagree.

Absent injury, I don't think that we can know enough from pre-season to predict how valuable Agholor would be to the 2022 team.

 

[mgteich]

We’ll see what shakes out in camp. Agholor and Meyers don’t have a contract beyond this season. If every WR stays healthy, produces and the young guys (Nixon, Wilkerson, Thornton) emerge as a force then don’t be surprised if a trade happens.

We've had lots of kids who are a force in the preseason. They are then called Practice Squad players. Nixon and Wilkerson will make the 3, only if there are serious injuries to two of the top 5. I count Thornton in the top 5 since he is a lock for the 53 mana roster.

I agree that if the top 5 all are healthy, and Thornton seems to be capable, then we are likely to trade Agholor or Myers.

 

[Wozzy]

I disagree.

Absent injury, I don't think that we can know enough from pre-season to predict how valuable Agholor would be to the 2022 team.

How can you disagree that the team will learn a lot about Nixon, Wilkerson and Thornton by the end of camp, joint practices and preseason?

After one joint practice last year they realized Mac was the man and cut Cam outright.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

We've had lots of kids who are a force in the preseason. They are then called Practice Squad players. Nixon and Wilkerson will make the 3, only if there are serious injuries to two of the top 5. I count Thornton in the top 5 since he is a lock for the 53 mana roster.

I agree that if the top 5 all are healthy, and Thornton seems to be capable, then we are likely to trade Agholor or Myers.

Meyers, Jakobi Meyers. You got Agholor right and that is the tough one.

 

[Wozzy]

We've had lots of kids who are a force in the preseason. They are then called Practice Squad players. Nixon and Wilkerson will make the 3, only if there are serious injuries to two of the top 5. I count Thornton in the top 5 since he is a lock for the 53 mana roster.

I agree that if the top 5 all are healthy, and Thornton seems to be capable, then we are likely to trade Agholor or Myers.

I agree the kids have to show it with pads on in full contact… everything else you said is a prediction… a guess.

 

[venecol]

The Patriots are using more cap space on WRs than any team but aren’t likely to have a WR1

The Patriots are spending BIG on their receiver position in 2022. Is it a stretch to think a WR1 will emerge?

patriotswire.usatoday.com

It's a bit confounding that w/ what Bill is spending at the WR position he still doesn't have a true WR#1. You could easily replace Agholor/Parker w/ an elite WR and not miss a beat cap wise or personnel wise.

We'll have to wait and see how his plan pans out w/ a bunch of #2s, 3s & 4s, a 2nd yr QB, and some rookie offensive play callers.

 

[signbabybrady]

The Patriots are using more cap space on WRs than any team but aren’t likely to have a WR1

The Patriots are spending BIG on their receiver position in 2022. Is it a stretch to think a WR1 will emerge?

patriotswire.usatoday.com

It's a bit confounding that w/ what Bill is spending at the WR position he still doesn't have a true WR#1. You could easily replace Agholor/Parker w/ an elite WR and not miss a beat cap wise or personnel wise.

We'll have to wait and see how his plan pans out w/ a bunch of #2s, 3s & 4s, a 2nd yr QB, and some rookie offensive play callers.

Easily? How?

 

[Triumph]

The only WR who should be gone is Harry.

Nixon, Wilkerson's or any walk on WRs job is to take Harrys locker.

 

[Triumph]

Even though he costs bigtime cutting the cord on Agholor would be a rash decision.

May as well see what he can do paired with Parker or Thorton.

 

[Triumph]

We've had lots of kids who are a force in the preseason. They are then called Practice Squad players. Nixon and Wilkerson will make the 3, only if there are serious injuries to two of the top 5. I count Thornton in the top 5 since he is a lock for the 53 mana roster.

I agree that if the top 5 all are healthy, and Thornton seems to be capable, then we are likely to trade Agholor or Myers.

If the Pats are transitioning to a zone passing game they will need 2 WRs to stretch the field horizontally.

2 WRs who catch the ball. Meyers 66% and Bourne 78%. 2021 New England Patriots Statistics & Players | Pro-Football-Reference.com But, the Pats improved the 2022 passing defense getting rid of JC Jackson so ya getting rid of Meyers is another win - win.

Parker has struggled to stay on the field. Agahlor should be given a 2nd season.

 

[venecol]

Easily? How?

Agholor/Parker cap # is $21M.
Agholor cap ($14.9M) is #5 out of all WRs. Only receivers w/ higher cap than Agholor are:
Golloday - $21.1M
K. Allen - $19.2M
Hopkins - $17.9M
Kupp - $17.8M

They could've easily signed a WR#1 and stayed under these cap #s but it would've req'd pushing $ to the future. This just shows the Pats plan is to maximize the 2022 cap and not push $ into the future.

I'm not down on the corps of receivers. I would've rather they draft a CB#1 in the 1st two rounds than a receiver. Can't wait to see how it all plays out.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I do not believe harry is soft.

I believe harry’s game is built on 50-50 balls and bb does not want our qb’s throwing 50-50 balls.

Harry is frustrated because:

1.) he does not have the suddenness to create separation.
2.) when he runs his routes and is in great position to win a 50-50 ball, none of our qb’s are willing to throw those to him.
3.) he was able to carve out a niche as a blocker on running plays, but that impact will not help him get a big second contract.

A change of scenery is over due. I do not blame harry for skipping ota’s. I think it is in his best interest to do whatever it takes to get to Chicago, the giants, Dallas or Washington, where he will see tons of 50-50 balls.

 

[Wozzy]

I do not believe harry is soft.

I believe harry’s game is built on 50-50 balls and bb does not want our qb’s throwing 50-50 balls.

Harry is frustrated because:

1.) he does not have the suddenness to create separation.
2.) when he runs his routes and is in great position to win a 50-50 ball, none of our qb’s are willing to throw those to him.
3.) he was able to carve out a niche as a blocker on running plays, but that impact will not help him get a big second contract.

A change of scenery is over due. I do not blame harry for skipping ota’s. I think it is in his best interest to do whatever it takes to get to Chicago, the giants, Dallas or Washington, where he will see tons of 50-50 balls.

He’s softer than an over easy egg… Cam literally nicknamed him “Doughboy.”

The guy’s mentally weak, it’s why he isn’t at OTA’s and instructed his agent to get him traded to an easier team to play for last season.

 

[Brewskies]

It‘s not that I don’t love Meyers, I just love Bourne more. I should’ve had him at the top of the list. I put Parker there based on the unofficial depth chart on patriots.com. They actually have two parallel WR positions, I assume one for each side of the O. Take a look for yourself, link below.

Parker was top on the first one, Bourne was top of the other one. I also gave Parker the benefit of the doubt not having seen how he will do in the Pats’ system. Bourne certainly did better in his first year here than he had previously. If Parker does the same that will be pretty good. Of course Bourne is likely to continue to improve as well.

Agholor was next on one, Meyers next on the other and I like Meyers a bit more than Agholor. I just think he already is what he is, in other words I see less upside for him than I do for Bourne, and perhaps Parker. Honestly I think all of the top three have potential to better than we’ve yet seen. Only reason I’m not saying that about Agholor is lingering disappointment from last year.

After those four Ty and Tre are a tossup. I’d like to see Wilkerson show something too, but there’s a crowd of talent ahead of him.

I’m very optimistic about the weapons Mac will have at his disposal this season. Throw in Jonnu improving, Asiasi or Keene perhaps finally showing up, even Harry maybe converting to TE, and the deep list of RBs. I can’t wait to see them all in camp!

New England Patriots Unofficial Depth Chart

I fully understand what you are saying. But with Meyers, you have 90% consistency. The others are variable. I like Bourne but we need to see another year, with Meyers we have seen many. Meyers has shown much more consistency than Agholor who was terrible last season. He is hoping he is better this season, me too but I haven't seen enough yet. I don't rate unknowns like Parker, too soon in our system. You get where I am coming from. Time will tell. I am excited for the season to start. I think we will be surprised with our 2022/23 team.

 

[mgteich]

We all seem to want to dump at least one of our WR's, IN JUNE. I think that most would be fine with starting the season with
Bourne, Parker, Agholor, Myers and Thornton, likely with Nixon and Wilkerson on the Practice Squad.

I suspect that one of first five will be injured in camp. If not, I am fine with carrying all five. That being said, my gut feeling is that Belichick would rather carry only 4 WR's unless Thornton needs a year to learn enough to be a contributor.

 

[Triumph]

We all seem to want to dump at least one of our WR's, IN JUNE. I think that most would be fine with starting the season with
Bourne, Parker, Agholor, Myers and Thornton, likely with Nixon and Wilkerson on the Practice Squad.

I suspect that one of first five will be injured in camp. If not, I am fine with carrying all five. That being said, my gut feeling is that Belichick would rather carry only 4 WR's unless Thornton needs a year to learn enough to be a contributor.

4 WRs is too thin.

The 5 you listed is the minimum. I will be disappointed if Thornton doesn't contribute in a big way this season. Other teams draft 1st/2nd round WRs and they go out and prove why they were worth the pick in that round.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

4 WRs is too thin.

The 5 you listed is the minimum. I will be disappointed if Thornton doesn't contribute in a big way this season. Other teams draft 1st/2nd round WRs and they go out and prove why they were worth the pick in that round.

Lots of 1st/2nd round WRs are not difference makers in Y1. BB is always slow in bringing rookies along.