Was WR Nelson Agholor Misused in the Patriots Offense (how to fix), or just a Terrible Contract/Signing from the Start?

[Kontradiction]

They needed a WR. Who was available that was better?

For this offense? Galloday. As I mentioned, though, Agholor can still be a nice piece for the next step, but his productive years throughout his career suggest that it would ultimately be as a third option, drawing single coverage.

When they signed him they didn’t know who the qb would be. Might have been a different season for him
if he didn’t have a rookie QB either unwilling to throw deep, coached not to or a little of both.

After watching the All-22, I highly doubt it. It would have resulted in more INTs, which is likely a big part of the reason they didn’t want Mac to make those throws on a regular basis.

Bourne at 3/15 stepped into the production you’d expect from him and he pretty much put up what you would expect from Bourne.

I love the Bourne signing and love his future with the team. I’m not sure how he’s relevant here, though.

 

[203Pat]

For this offense? Galloday. As I mentioned, though, Agholor can still be a nice piece for the next step, but his productive years throughout his career suggest that it would ultimately be as a third option, drawing single coverage.



After watching the All-22, I highly doubt it. It would have resulted in more INTs, which is likely a big part of the reason they didn’t want Mac to make those throws on a regular basis.



I love the Bourne signing and love his future with the team. I’m not sure how he’s relevant here, though.

Lol @ anyone trying to bill Agholor as some diamond in the rough being held back by a rookie QB. Sounds similar to the crap we have heard from the same posters about why Harry isn't Jerry Rice yet. I would have gone Cory Davis over Agholor. His contract was structured a little differently but overall the numbers were similar and his stats were better with 6 less games played.

 

[Ring 6]

So that's what $10 Mill get you these days?? We definitely overpaid.

Who else was on the free agent market that was better for that price?

 

[Ring 6]

For this offense? Galloday. As I mentioned, though, Agholor can still be a nice piece for the next step, but his productive years throughout his career suggest that it would ultimately be as a third option, drawing single coverage.



After watching the All-22, I highly doubt it. It would have resulted in more INTs, which is likely a big part of the reason they didn’t want Mac to make those throws on a regular basis.



I love the Bourne signing and love his future with the team. I’m not sure how he’s relevant here, though.

Golladay was waaay more expensive at 4/72 and had a similar season.

For most of the season Jones wasn’t even looking at that throw. I mean the difference is a play every 4 games or so, so it’s not like he should be open deep multiple times every game.
Bourne is relevant because he took a larger role while agholor took a smaller one.

 

[203Pat]

Who else was on the free agent market that was better for that price?

I would take Curtis Samuel and Corey Davis's contracts over Agholor.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I've studied and looked at Smith for a minute now.

1)His blocking was atrocious. Some might not like hearing it but it lost him snaps. Definitely lost a few to JJ at the end of the year. Believe it was his lowest total of snaps ever or since his rookie year. .

Equating Smith losing snaps because he's a poor blocker is the height of idiocy. Or, par for the course for construction guy IQ's.

Smith came in as a known poor blocker and excellent YAC guy. Unless the claim is the team actually thought Jonnu was a better blocker than Henry coming in which would be more moronic evals from this mediocre offensive staff.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

I love the Bourne signing and love his future with the team. I’m not sure how he’s relevant here, though.

Agree. It's not relevant. Bourne is an excellent add and great value. But AJ is bringing it in because his main thing is to defend every Patriot move.

To understand andyjohnson you have to take 4 shots and then imagine what would Forrest Gump think in this situation.

 

[DropKickFlutie]

Hey guys, I've been looking at twitter a lot and what other people say and here's another hot take 6 months behind everyone else (but don't you dare act as if I didn't come up with it first): Jonnu Smith isn't a great TE blocker and also the Pats have several pass-catchers built to attack the middle of the field. You're welcome. Back to doing some drywall or possibly install a couple toilets.

 

[Wozzy]

I would take Curtis Samuel and Corey Davis's contracts over Agholor.

Curtis Samuel received more money than Agholor, got hurt (yet again) in camp, then sat all year before finally playing 84 total snaps on the season before ending up injured again. His contract was an albatross hanging around Washington's neck all season... the guy gets hurt warming up. Corey Davis received more money than Agholor... Nelson had more receptions, yards, TD's and Yards Per Reception than Davis.

Whether we're talking about Agholor, who started the year off strong, or Jonnu who flashed at times towards the middle and end, we have to admit to ourselves that the offense barely passed at all and just wasn't that good... at least not consistently good. They struggled to utilize their weapons to the fullest when they weren't struggling to execute properly. Just adding weapons, the NFL equivalent of throwing money at a problem, is not always the solution... sometimes they just have to play better.

 

[Ring 6]

I would take Curtis Samuel and Corey Davis's contracts over Agholor.

Samuel caught 6 passes all year.
Davis is probably the other choice available, but hardly a no brainer

 

[Ring 6]

Curtis Samuel received more money than Agholor, got hurt (yet again) in camp, then sat all year before finally playing 84 total snaps on the season before ending up injured again. His contract was an albatross hanging around Washington's neck all season... the guy gets hurt warming up. Corey Davis received more money than Agholor... Nelson had more receptions, yards, TD's and Yards Per Reception than Davis.

Whether we're talking about Agholor, who started the year off strong, or Jonnu who flashed at times towards the middle and end, we have to admit to ourselves that the offense barely passed at all and just wasn't that good... at least not consistently good. They struggled to utilize their weapons to the fullest when they weren't struggling to execute properly. Just adding weapons, the NFL equivalent of throwing money at a problem, is not always the solution... sometimes they just have to play better.

Huh? They threw 20 fewer passes all season than the Bengals.
They scored on the 2nd highest % of drives and scored the 6th most points.
“Just wasn’t that good” implies what, 20 out if 32 were better? Please list the 20, and explain how scoring fewer points and scoring less frequently made them better.

 

[203Pat]

Curtis Samuel received more money than Agholor, got hurt (yet again) in camp, then sat all year before finally playing 84 total snaps on the season before ending up injured again. His contract was an albatross hanging around Washington's neck all season... the guy gets hurt warming up. Corey Davis received more money than Agholor... Nelson had more receptions, yards, TD's and Yards Per Reception than Davis.

Whether we're talking about Agholor, who started the year off strong, or Jonnu who flashed at times towards the middle and end, we have to admit to ourselves that the offense barely passed at all and just wasn't that good... at least not consistently good. They struggled to utilize their weapons to the fullest when they weren't struggling to execute properly. Just adding weapons, the NFL equivalent of throwing money at a problem, is not always the solution... sometimes they just have to play better.

Curtis Samuel is one of those guys who I fell in love with off his potential (looks like WFT did as well). He was so versatile and explosive in Carolina it's a shame he can't stay healthy. Corey Davis was banged up too put put up pretty good numbers when on the field. With all Agholor's faults at least he stayed pretty healthy outside of the unfortunate concussion. I agree that the weapons were underutilized and I would hope that next year we open up the offense a little but and maximize the investments made on Agholor and Smith. I am still holding out hope we can get a "man beater" receiver early in the draft. A guy who can win one on one matchups on the outside consistently would have a huge impact freeing things up for all the other guys.

 

[PatsFan2]

Who else was on the free agent market that was better for that price?

Personally I was never a Huge fan of Aguilar or whatever his name is.

 

[Wozzy]

Huh? They threw 20 fewer passes all season than the Bengals.
They scored on the 2nd highest % of drives and scored the 6th most points.
“Just wasn’t that good” implies what, 20 out if 32 were better? Please list the 20, and explain how scoring fewer points and scoring less frequently made them better.

They were ranked 26th in passing attempts, there are only 32 teams.

They ranked 17th in turnovers, 23rd in fumbles... there are 32 teams, which makes anything below 16 below average.

The Patriots defense also ranked 3rd in the NFL in forced turnovers, they got the offense the ball back at a high rate.

I'm not saying the offense was bad. They were manned by a rookie QB, the blocking early in the season was atrocious, they were prone to penalties at inopportune times, weapons fumbled or dropped passes at the worst times. They never fired on all cylinders consistently, except in spurts. They could have been, and likely will be better as Mac and the unit as a whole improves... the passing game specifically.

 

[Wozzy]

Curtis Samuel is one of those guys who I fell in love with off his potential (looks like WFT did as well). He was so versatile and explosive in Carolina it's a shame he can't stay healthy. Corey Davis was banged up too put put up pretty good numbers when on the field. With all Agholor's faults at least he stayed pretty healthy outside of the unfortunate concussion. I agree that the weapons were underutilized and I would hope that next year we open up the offense a little but and maximize the investments made on Agholor and Smith. I am still holding out hope we can get a "man beater" receiver early in the draft. A guy who can win one on one matchups on the outside consistently would have a huge impact freeing things up for all the other guys.

I'd like them to try Wilkerson in the slot, in a league full of fast and quick players he has unique agility for a guy his size. He has to prove his hands are reliable.

Tre Nixon is a fast player, they should develop him if possible, athletically he's very talented and explosive.

I like Meyers and Gunner, Gunner returns punts so he should be a priority to bring back if nobody matches the restricted tender. Meyers and Bourne in my opinion are both good but similar players, somewhat redundant. They're both big, tall, physical, mobile possession receivers who are good at their job, but neither is very fast. Meyers is a free agent and Bourne isn't, plus Bourne showed a lot of burst after the catch. As much as I'd like to keep Meyers in-house and think he'll be inexpensive, there may be better options elsewhere whether in-house or later in the draft.

 

[PatsFan2]

Curtis Samuel received more money than Agholor, got hurt (yet again) in camp, then sat all year before finally playing 84 total snaps on the season before ending up injured again. His contract was an albatross hanging around Washington's neck all season... the guy gets hurt warming up. Corey Davis received more money than Agholor... Nelson had more receptions, yards, TD's and Yards Per Reception than Davis.

Whether we're talking about Agholor, who started the year off strong, or Jonnu who flashed at times towards the middle and end, we have to admit to ourselves that the offense barely passed at all and just wasn't that good... at least not consistently good. They struggled to utilize their weapons to the fullest when they weren't struggling to execute properly. Just adding weapons, the NFL equivalent of throwing money at a problem, is not always the solution... sometimes they just have to play better.

The sad thing with Jonnu Smith and how he petered out in our Offense is not a good sign. Jets sweeps for a known pass catching TE! All of a sudden he cant catch passes in space that's a huge confidence Issue. Some players get out of it some players don't Patriots better hope its not the latter in this case.

 

[203Pat]

I'd like them to try Wilkerson in the slot, in a league full of fast and quick players he has unique agility for a guy his size. He has to prove his hands are reliable.

Tre Nixon is a fast player, they should develop him if possible, athletically he's very talented and explosive.

I like Meyers and Gunner, Gunner returns punts so he should be a priority to bring back if nobody matches the restricted tender. Meyers and Bourne in my opinion are both good but similar players, somewhat redundant. They're both big, tall, physical, mobile possession receivers who are good at their job, but neither is very fast. Meyers is a free agent and Bourne isn't, plus Bourne showed a lot of burst after the catch. As much as I'd like to keep Meyers in-house and think he'll be inexpensive, there may be better options elsewhere whether in-house or later in the draft.

I would like to see more of Wilkerson. Granted it was against the Jags but it looked like there is at least something to work with there. As for Tre Nixon they kept him on the practice squad all year so they may see something in him worth developing. I agree on Meyers where I hope he is back as long as it is relatively cheap but certainly wouldn't be opposed to an upgrade if there is one out there. Getting Harry out of the way should help clear up a receiver spot for one of the young guys to get more looks so I am hoping we see him gone sooner rather than later.

 

[mgteich]

. They could have been and likely will get better as Mac and the unit as a whole improves, the passing game specifically.

Please rank our WR talent against that of the other AFC playoff teams.

I agree that the passing game will likely be better, presuming that our OL play doesn't decline. Our 2022 lineup is currently
Wynn, Onwenu, Andrews, Mason, Herron

Even if we re-sign Karras AND Brown, we are using Herron as the backup LT. Given Wynn's injury problems, we need a serious improvement.

One obvious solution is to re-sign Karras and sign a veteran swing OT, and a backup C/G.

This would also help the running game which is down to Harris and Stevenson.

 

[Wozzy]

The sad thing with Jonnu Smith and how he petered out in our Offense is not a good sign. Jets sweeps for a known pass catching TE! All of a sudden he cant catch passes in space that's a huge confidence Issue. Some players get out of it some players don't Patriots better hope its not the latter in this case.

The offense, much like the rest of the team, devolved as the season went on, got worse. They made mistakes late in the season that they made in the first third of the season. The coaches have to find out why and fix it. Mac has to get stronger so he can survive the rigors of a 20 game season and improve upon his impressive rookie start. They never gave up or made excuses, they just never improved to the point of consistent flawless execution.

 

[PatsFan2]

The offense, much like the rest of the team, devolved as the season went on, got worse. They made mistakes late in the season that they made in the first third of the season. The coaches have to find out why and fix it. Mac has to get stronger so he can survive the rigors of a 20 game season and improve upon his impressive rookie start. They never gave up or made excuses, they just never improved to the point of consistent flawless execution.

?? What's your take on TE's Dalton Keene and Devin Asiasi you think they could add something going forward?