Why can't we draft receivers?

[JohnJH]

One thing that people always leave out when it comes to the 2019 WR draft is that, sure, we should've taken AJ Brown or Metcalf, but in that 2nd round, there were 4 busts taken in between them.

Arcega-Whiteside, Isabella, Campbell, Hardman.

Add Harry to that, and you had more busts in those first 2 rounds than you had good WRs.

Even crazier than that is only 2 of the 9 ended up signing 2nd contracts with the teams that drafted them.

Get a QB, get a good line, advance the ball down the field.

Look at Baltimore: only 1 playoff win in the last 10 years but they have a very deep and talented team; they traded their stud WR Hollywood Brown, turned into a brawling running and throw to your TE team.

I definitely want the Patriots to find a stud #1 WR, but there are more important things to consider, like a LT and a QB.

We need talent (and quality talent as depth pieces), at every position on this team. Even on the D-Line, besides Barmore (who looks like he could play every position on a 3-4 front and not just DT on a 4-3), there is a significant drop-off in talent.

 

[Real fan 02]

I would agree with you. Which explains how we got into this mess with a lack of any legit talent at WR and other positions on the offensive side of the ball.

Agreed. It's not to diminish all bills done.. but we have to point out that the egregious misses on 1st and 2nd round WRs is asinine. We are in 2023-24 NFL where scoring is prioritized. Feels like just about every team in the league can identify a #1 WR on thier roster.

 

[Real fan 02]

From what I recall I think he chose the receiver his OC wanted so if you were the scout who put in the work you might feel ignored but if you're a HC or GM for any team your scouts, coordinators, and position coaches are all going to part of that picture.

I'd agree! However Bill still makes the final call on all roster decisions, drafts ect. So he even said him.. if things don't work out put it on himself. As far a Chad Jackson he reportedly had bad practice habits and was often injured. Harry same thing and had attitude issues. Those things right there will never allow a WR to reach his potential especially in NE. Remember Harry asking to be traded.

 

[Real fan 02]

We need talent (and quality talent as depth pieces), at every position on this team. Even on the D-Line, besides Barmore (who looks like he could play every position on a 3-4 front and not just DT on a 4-3), there is a significant drop-off in talent.

Beast-more is finally reaching his potential.. he credited Demarcus covington who I believe will end up being the DC when mayo takes over. (IMO) LT would solve alot of our O line issues. I'm all set with Trent Brown.. just not the type of player the team needs going forward.

 

[JohnJH]

Agreed. It's not to diminish all bills done.. but we have to point out that the egregious misses on 1st and 2nd round WRs is asinine. We are in 2023-24 NFL where scoring is prioritized. Feels like just about every team in the league can identify a #1 WR on thier roster.

Which, to your point, makes it extremely easy for an opposing defense to identify our #1 WR, as we don't have one!

 

[JohnJH]

Beast-more is finally reaching his potential.. he credited Demarcus covington who I believe will end up being the DC when mayo takes over. (IMO) LT would solve alot of our O line issues. I'm all set with Trent Brown.. just not the type of player the team needs going forward.

Trent Brown could have been a Pro Football Hall of Fame OT, were he not an extremely lazy, play hard only when the next contract is involved and then mail it in once he gets the contract player. Not to mention doing just the bare minimum to be at a good weight and be in top physical condition. Few people in life are afforded the opportunities that he's had, and yet, he's all about himself and has never desired to aspire to achieve greatness, to not live up to his clear potential. It's sad.

 

[Real fan 02]

Which, to your point, makes it extremely easy for an opposing defense to identify our #1 WR, as we don't have one!

Exactly correct. One we can get that guy in here I'd be fine with the guys we have as they would be 3s, 4s and 5s..

 

[jmt57]

It may simply be more of a situation where the Patriots don't draft wide receivers, as opposed to can't.

In the last ten years the Pats have only drafted a WR early twice. Yes, they were/are both underperformers (Harry at #32 in 2019 and Thornton at #50 in 2022), but a quantity of two is an incredibly small sample size.

Going back further does produce more busts (Dobson, Jackson), but it also shows the Patriots expended draft capital on the position in a very positive way. In 2007 the team traded a 4th round pick for Randy Moss (and got a 3rd round pick back when he was traded away), a 2nd round pick for Wes Welker the same year, a first in 2017 for Brandin Cooks. Considering who was drafted in those spots (John Bowie for Moss, Samson Satele for Welker) and the Pats got a 1st rounder back when they traded Cooks, it appears to be a good use of draft capital at WR.

Another thing to consider is that when the team has Moss, Welker, Edelman, Gronk, AH already on the roster, it didn't really need to expend an early draft pick on a WR.

That being said, yes, it is infuriating to see the club pass on quality receivers like Deebo Samuel and A.J. Brown, and instead select N'Keal Harry. Small sample size or not, something is clearly in need of repair - whether it be the scouting/evaluation, or the specifics they are looking for in that position. To make matters worse their evaluations of free agent WRs has not been that great recetly either. All that was exacerbated by the decision to essentially trade Jakobi Meyers for JuJu Smith Schuster.

 

[upstater1]

We need talent (and quality talent as depth pieces), at every position on this team. Even on the D-Line, besides Barmore (who looks like he could play every position on a 3-4 front and not just DT on a 4-3), there is a significant drop-off in talent.

Keion White, Davon Godchaux, Derek Wise, Matthew Judon.

We even have decent backups in Ekuale, Guy, Uche, Pharms and Roberts.

 

[upstater1]

I'd agree! However Bill still makes the final call on all roster decisions, drafts ect. So he even said him.. if things don't work out put it on himself. As far a Chad Jackson he reportedly had bad practice habits and was often injured. Harry same thing and had attitude issues. Those things right there will never allow a WR to reach his potential especially in NE. Remember Harry asking to be traded.

They are rarer than this. Houston, Arizona, Green Bay, Tennessee, New England, Kansas City, Carolina, maybe Atlanta with Drake London (so far he's putting up Jakobi Meyers numbers, not yet #1 numbers, but he's young and may get there), Giants, Colts (Pittman is great, but he's strictly a possession guy), Cleveland, Baltimore, Denver: 12 teams, not quite half the league, but a lot of teams are desperate for a #1 outside WR.

 

[JohnJH]

Keion White, Davon Godchaux, Derek Wise, Matthew Judon.

We even have decent backups in Ekuale, Guy, Uche, Pharms and Roberts.

Exactly correct. One we can get that guy in here I'd be fine with the guys we have as they would be 3s, 4s and 5s..

I would still like an upgrade of talent after we get a true #1 WR to give defenses more problems (and in the event of injuries).

 

[upstater1]

It may simply be more of a situation where the Patriots don't draft wide receivers, as opposed to can't.

In the last ten years the Pats have only drafted a WR early twice. Yes, they were/are both underperformers (Harry at #32 in 2019 and Thornton at #50 in 2022), but a quantity of two is an incredibly small sample size.

Going back further does produce more busts (Dobson, Jackson), but it also shows the Patriots expended draft capital on the position in a very positive way. In 2007 the team traded a 4th round pick for Randy Moss (and got a 3rd round pick back when he was traded away), a 2nd round pick for Wes Welker the same year, a first in 2017 for Brandin Cooks. Considering who was drafted in those spots (John Bowie for Moss, Samson Satele for Welker) and the Pats got a 1st rounder back when they traded Cooks, it appears to be a good use of draft capital at WR.

Another thing to consider is that when the team has Moss, Welker, Edelman, Gronk, AH already on the roster, it didn't really need to expend an early draft pick on a WR.

That being said, yes, it is infuriating to see the club pass on quality receivers like Deebo Samuel and A.J. Brown, and instead select N'Keal Harry. Small sample size or not, something is clearly in need of repair - whether it be the scouting/evaluation, or the specifics they are looking for in that position. To make matters worse their evaluations of free agent WRs has not been that great recetly either. All that was exacerbated by the decision to essentially trade Jakobi Meyers for JuJu Smith Schuster.

I agree with all of this but to be fair, there are hardly any good WRs available in FA. Teams not willing to pay $$ their own guys will trade WRs early.

 

[Sciz]

The last QB that the Saints drafted that was good (for the Saints) was 50 years ago. You can probably do this for every team at some position.

 

[Mack Herron]

Our evaluation criteria for WR appears to have been bad for a while. And not just for college WRs.

 

[archstanton543]

Our evaluation criteria for WR appears to have been bad for a while. And not just for college WRs.

Great signing.

 

[Real fan 02]

They are rarer than this. Houston, Arizona, Green Bay, Tennessee, New England, Kansas City, Carolina, maybe Atlanta with Drake London (so far he's putting up Jakobi Meyers numbers, not yet #1 numbers, but he's young and may get there), Giants, Colts (Pittman is great, but he's strictly a possession guy), Cleveland, Baltimore, Denver: 12 teams, not quite half the league, but a lot of teams are desperate for a #1 outside WR.

KC, Mahomes is visibly frustrated with the offenses performance. I have more faith that his group will make enough plays to have them deep in the playoffs. We have 3s & 4s.. once we can get a true #1 guy every one else can play loosely and have favorable match ups. Baltimore has zay flowers , O'Dell and even alghlor has made plays for them. Still annoys Meyer's isn't here.

 

[Real fan 02]

I would still like an upgrade of talent after we get a true #1 WR to give defenses more problems (and in the event of injuries).

I woul too. I believe ownerships been embarrassed by this season especially the Germany game. After next week going to be such and interesting off season to say the least. They will want to become a contender again fast

 

[JohnJH]

I woul too. I believe ownerships been embarrassed by this season especially the Germany game. After next week going to be such and interesting off season to say the least. They will want to become a contender again fast

Agreed. However, we'll know how serious the Kraft's are about that by both what they do and/or don't do.

 

[Huckleberry1]

Personally I think it's because the brain trust tries too hard to find a player with skills that matches up with what they perceive to be a team weakness...

Iirc, correct me if I'm wrong, one of the (but not the only) reasons for the Harry pick was he was supposed to be good at snagging the jump ball, potentially offering up a good red zone target... They missed on him because they overlooked all the other red flags because they were looking for that aspect of game play/situational football... They were myopic in their assessments, all the while overlooking the skill sets of available wrs who were better on a basic level...

And I will add, BB does not, or appears to not value the position to a high degree in general... Kinda treats it as a plug and play running back... To some extent it's true, but not so much when you want/need an elite pass catcher... Skill and drive matters at the wr position at an elite level much moreso than the RB position

The strange thing about that pick was that in War Room iirc Belichick’s #1 priority for wide receivers was getting open, and Harry was incapable of that. And what really sucked was that Deebo Samuel was campaigning to become a Patriot, he was sitting right there when they picked, and Belichick went with Harry.

Overall the only things I can come up with are that Belichick has never valued the position because they only touch the ball 4-6 times a game, and that he has always used psychological evaluations, and prioritized team captains and leaders, and prioritized those qualities over athleticism, at a position where athleticism is the most important trait. Regardless the track record is really poor, especially when you put each draft in the perspective of who was still on the board at the time. Harry over Samuel, Aaron Dobson over Keenan Allen etc…. Monday morning QB’ing on the draft always fails to put it in context, but a number of these were almost straight up choices of one over the other.

 

[Huckleberry1]

If true, it may answer a burning question that I've always had, which is: Was/Is our scouting department that bad, or were/are they competent and Bill just disregarded their talent evaluations regarding the WR position in specific, and other positions in-general. I'm leaning more to it being the latter reason.

I think Belichick has been disregarding scouts on the final choice of picks for his entire career. I think he takes their input, but ultimately he goes with his pick.