2026 Draft: WR

[VJCPatriot]

Pats may require all WR prospects to get a cardiac MRI to determine if they have the same size heart as Mac Hollins.

True. Hollins will be hard to replace. I hope he recovers fully healthy.

 

[manxman2601]

That's nice and all. But will he be available at pick #32?

He probably will now since he tore his acl.

 

[mayoclinic]

 

[VJCPatriot]

He probably will now since he tore his acl.

Ouch. Feels bad.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I'm thinking Denzel Boston in round 2.

A look at Denzel Boston's physicality:



He offers a huge catch radius and another weapon in the redzone for Drake to score with on those fade routes. He can easily climb the ladder and would help improve our offense relatively mid redzone efficiency.

Despite having the #2 scoring offense in the NFL this year our redzone efficiency for TDs was only ranked #17 overall out of 32 teams at 57%. Compare that to Philadelphia who ranked #1 in redzone efficiency at 70.45%. There is definitely room for improvement here.

Team redzone offense stats for 2025: NFL Football Stats - NFL Team Red Zone Scoring Percentage (TD only) | TeamRankings.com

Imagine if we can just get that redzone efficiency to 67% or 2/3 of our goal line visits. We could easily end up with the #1 scoring offense in the NFL next year if that happens.

 

[mayoclinic]

Denzel Boston in round 2 would be outstanding, but unlikely.

The Saints Should Heavily Consider Drafting Denzel Boston With the 8th Overall Pick in the NFL Draft

Is Denzel Boston a perfect fit in the Saints offense?

sports.yahoo.com

 

[mayoclinic]

 

[VJCPatriot]

Denzel Boston in round 2 would be outstanding, but unlikely.

The Saints Should Heavily Consider Drafting Denzel Boston With the 8th Overall Pick in the NFL Draft

Is Denzel Boston a perfect fit in the Saints offense?

sports.yahoo.com

He's going 8th overall now? Sheesh. I guess Tet McMillan made big WRs in vogue again.

I'm a big fan of T-Mac and wanted us to take him in the draft but given how well Campbell has turned out, I guess we had no choice but to go with the LT at #4.

Guess Boston will go a lot earlier than expected. I will take another look at the WR class once we get closer and see if there's a more realistic target for us considering we will be drafting anywhere from #28-32 now.

 

[mayoclinic]

No idea where he goes, but lasting to the late 2nd round seems unlikely. Great value if he does.

 

[PatsFan2]

He's going 8th overall now? Sheesh. I guess Tet McMillan made big WRs in vogue again.

I'm a big fan of T-Mac and wanted us to take him in the draft but given how well Campbell has turned out, I guess we had no choice but to go with the LT at #4.

Guess Boston will go a lot earlier than expected. I will take another look at the WR class once we get closer and see if there's a more realistic target for us considering we will be drafting anywhere from #28-32 now.

Plenty of Big WR I'm the Draft: it's a matter of finding the right guy that fits.

 

[manxman2601]

Larry Fitzgerald comp huh?

 

[mayoclinic]

Not a comp that has occurred to me.

 

[mayoclinic]

 

[BobDigital]

So has the world come around on my Boston top 16 take? It was funny... someone mentioned a Drake London comp and i thought that immediately when i saw him. If you can get Drake London at 32 (I hope) how could we turn that down? No team will ever trade you one without serious issues nor will a FA like that in their prime ever pop up. We can figure out the OL in FA... WR has shown time and again we will never get a solution there unless we spend a top pick on a guy who falls to us. That is what is required... unless you get lucky like LA did with Puka.

While i want to solve the OL too... if Boston is there when we pick... I just don't see how we can turn it down.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

So has the world come around on my Boston top 16 take? We can figure out the OL in FA... WR has shown time and again we will never get a solution there unless we spend a top pick on a guy who falls to us. That is what is required... unless you get lucky like LA did with Puka.

While i want to solve the OL too... if Boston is there when we pick... I just don't see how we can turn it down.

Draft Bell in R2 or R3 and wait a year?

 

[BobDigital]

Draft Bell in R2 or R3 and wait a year?

I know a lot of people are super high on Bell.. I am in the minority of never seeing him as a WR1 type prospect. WR2 yes. I know I am in the minority on that opinion. Many people whose opinion i honestly respect more than my own have said otherwise... but i will always say it how i personally see it. If he is a WR1 then I am fine with that. If Boston was injured for instance I'd say hell yeah take him in the 2nd and wait a year. Worth it.

 

[mayoclinic]

Totally out if sync with you on this one, on many levels. Disagree with your WR premise, also not sold on Boston.

Disagreement is fine.

 

[mayoclinic]

n1997y posted this recently in the Miami Postgame thread. It expresses my personal view perfectly.

An offense built around the “true #1” is built and run differently, and there are consequences to that.

Biggest to me is that it at least tacitly formalizes one prima donna with everyone else being supporting cast. That shapes locker room chemistry, not always for the better. Too often the prima donna egos get upset, e.g. not being targeted enough (see AJ Brown). Also affects young players and influences their development. How can Boutte or Williams develop if they’re never targeted because you’re throwing everything to your #1 WR sometimes he doesn’t lose his temper about too few touches? It distorts the whole offense.

Practically, it puts all your eggs in one basket. If the #1 WR is injured, or the opponent shuts them down, the offense is severely crippled. It’s almost inevitable that when you invest disproportionately in one weapon and make him the centerpiece of the offense there’s a gaping hole left without them. It undermines resilience.

And none of that says anything about what they do to finances, and cap position. Those are obvious challenges too.

It’s not as sound as a balanced offense, imo.

PostGame Thread Post in thread '2025 OFFICIAL WEEK 18 POSTGAME THREAD: Patriots beat Dolphins 38-10'

Jan 6, 2026

This is one of the reasons why sometimes I wonder if a huge investment into a true #1 who is going to demand at LEAST 10 targets a game is worth the huge cap space investment as good as he is, when having a full room of good, but not great guys can equate the production at a lower cost. Would we have more passing yds if we had managed to get and pay one of the WR's we all talked about all off season and summer, like Brown or Medcalf. Granted that guy turned out to have a 12 hundred yd season and our production duplicated what we had this year, would it be worth the lesser cap...

• n1997y

I strongly agree with this. You need good offensive skill players, without a doubt. We have a bunch. Could use a few more, but not at the cost of unbalanced the offense.

Give me a true franchise QB like Maye with a really good OL and a bunch of very good skill players without any "superstars" any day.

I would personally build the OL as a priority well above drafting an offensive skill players in the 1st round.

And I would take Jamari Johnson over an X like Boston any day.

JMHO. If we all agreed, it would be boring.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I strongly agree with this. You need good offensive skill players, without a doubt. We have a bunch. Could use a few more, but not at the cost of unbalanced the offense.

Give me a true franchise QB like Maye with a really good OL and a bunch of very good skill players without any "superstars" any day.

I would personally build the OL as a priority well above drafting an offensive skill players in the 1st round.

And I would take Jamari Johnson over an X like Boston any day.

JMHO. If we all agreed, it would be boring.

I don't think adding a star skill player on offense ever hurts. Remember when the Vikings had Chris Carter but then added Randy Moss to the mix? That only helped them.

Yes you can win by paper cuts as Brady has shown. But that does increase the level of difficulty by requiring nearly perfect execution by the QB over long multiple play drives. He was responsible for lifting the team with his play rather than having reliable mismatches to help him out of tough spots.

I think adding Gronk to the mix as a mismatch nightmare really helped Brady out in phase 2 of the Dynasty. That's another 3 Superbowl championships added to our Trophy case.

Right now Diggs is exactly what we needed as a WR1. He's not as good as he was in his prime but he brings leadership, experience, and savvy. He also elevates his play in the right spots. I don't think it would hurt to add to the WR depth with a youngster capable of taking over that WR1 mantle once Diggs starts to lose a step. In fact a young growing star wideout would benefit a lot from Diggs mentorship at this stage of his career.

That being said, I still feel like Round 1 is going to be reserved for a pass rusher. That's a huge need next year even if we resign Chaisson to a reasonable deal. Round 2 is where the scouts are going to need to do their homework and earn their money. We haven't had a hit at WR for a long time.

I feel like Boutte is a fine candidate for WR2 and he's getting better every year. Kyle Williams is not there yet but he's a fine 3rd WR as a downfield threat. When Maye completes a couple of long passes to KW, that changes how the entire defense plays. I still feel investing at WR is a good use of draft capital. We only need one more prospect but if he's a good one, that could help this offense reach critical mass.

 

[bakes781]

This past year offense was the focus early. This year is likely to be the opposite.