Some news and notes on this Wednesday:<\/p>\n
1) Despite carrying a $15 million cap hit heading into 2022, along with the fact the Patriots added DeVante Parker via a trade and drafted Tyquan Thornton, Nelson Agholor doesn’t appear to be too worried about his future.<\/p>\n
The addition of Parker seemed to seal the deal for N’Keal Harry, with the former Arizona State receiver likely counting the days until his tenure in New England comes to an end.\u00a0 But the addition of Thornton created a new problem, adding to a receiver corps that is now so deep, there definitely isn’t room for everybody.<\/p>\n
New England currently has Agholor, Kendrick Bourne, Jakobi Meyers, and Parker among the logical top four players heading into the season.\u00a0 Given the fact they also have Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith at the tight end position, there’s not a lot of room to really have more than four receivers active.<\/p>\n
That means that if the Patriots want to get Thornton on the field this season, someone will have to be on the sidelines or inactive for that to happen.<\/p>\n
Agholor, who according to Spotrac has a base salary of $9 million as he heads into the final season of the 2-year deal he signed last offseason, is coming off a disappointing year.\u00a0 He caught just 38 passes for 491 yards and three touchdowns, finishing with nearly half the number of receptions of Bourne (62 catches, 877 yards, 7 TDs) and well below the 89 receptions and 906 yards of Meyers.<\/p>\n
We covered this a couple of days ago<\/strong><\/a>, but Agholor and Mac Jones struggled to get on the same page early in the season, including a stretch of three-straight games where Jones was picked off while targeting the veteran.\u00a0 He was also picked off targeting Agholor in their blowout playoff loss in Buffalo.<\/p>\n That turnover stretch went into Week 5, where Jones had targeted him 26 times with 15 incompletions (58% completion rate) for 167-yards and a TD over the first five games.\u00a0 At the time, Agholor was tied with Henry\u00a0(20\/26 for 216yds and 2TDs) with the 2nd most targets, with Meyers leading that category with 46 (31\/46 for 302yds).<\/p>\n But after that point, they started going away from him.\u00a0 He finished the final 12 regular-season games having been targeted just 36 times with 20 completions for 251 yards and a TD, with his 36 target total coming in the 4th lowest behind Meyers (79), Henry (49), and Bourne (44).\u00a0 In fact, Brandon Bolden was only one behind him with 35.<\/p>\n All that being said, he didn’t sound worried when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday, saying what happened last season is behind him and he’s looking forward to the upcoming year.<\/p>\n “It’s behind us but I would say it went the way it was supposed to, for me to grow,” said Agholor via BostonSportsJournal.com<\/strong><\/a>. “I can’t really look at it any other way. I needed to grow. I needed to adapt. I needed to be able to do what I wanted to do. And I think everything happens for a reason. I’m not gonna get upset about this or that because it’s in the past. What I do have in front of me is a really wonderful opportunity this year, to be who I’m supposed to be in play the way I want to play, so I’m alright with that.”<\/p>\n While it’s great to hear his optimism, it’s definitely going to be an interesting situation to watch heading into this preseason.<\/p>\n 2) Our resident Patriots salary cap expert Miguel Benzan recently talked about the current draft class while looking at the financial aspect of things, as the club is in need of obviously getting everyone signed.<\/p>\n According to Benzan, the Patriots currently have the room to sign their bottom seven picks, noting that despite the combined salary totals and salary cap prorations, the Top 51 rule makes it where it will only require just under $2.7 million.<\/p>\n The Patriots currently have enough room to sign their bottom seven picks. Will not take $13M in cap space to sign their entire draft class. Because of the Top 51 rule, it will take less than $2.7M. https:\/\/t.co\/P0TyNEYkCZ<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/vogSpi4sf5<\/a><\/p>\n — Patscap's Patriots Cap Space Number is in Bio (@patscap) May 11, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n