Gunner Olszewski came to the Patriots last year as a D-II cornerback out of Bemidji State in Minnesota, but transitioned to wide receiver.
While it was clear he has tremendous athletic ability, he didn't look like a NFL receiver with his 6-foot, 190-pound frame.
That has changed this summer as Olszewski put the time over the past year to gain more weight as well as improve his route running. Watching him over the last week or so, he just looks more like a NFL wide out.
Speaking before practice Friday, Bill Belichick praised the second-year player.
“Gunner’s improved tremendously, both physically and from a football standpoint,” he said via video conference. “He’s a smart kid. He works extremely hard. He’s tough. He’s very, very competitive. He’s learned how to do a lot of different things for us, and he continues to work on things that will expand his opportunities. So it’ll be interesting to watch him take advantage or try to take advantage of those opportunities and watch him play and see how all that’s coming together.”
“But his overall background, knowledge, understanding, being a professional athlete, training — some of his fundamental athletic skills, he’s refined those quite a bit, and he’s much, much, much further ahead from where he was last year.”
With N'Keal Harry missing several practices this week and Julian Edelman limited at times, this has allowed for Olszewski to see more reps and he's made the most of them. One of his better plays this week came against Stephon Gilmore when he beat him on a come-back route and Cam Newton delivered the ball perfectly.
"I think Gunner is a good testament to -- and all those guys are -- to how much work they put in the offseason, in the playbook, in their skill set, in their strength, in the weight room with Moses [Cabrera], all those things," Patriots wide receivers coach Mick Lombardi said to reporters on a video conference Friday. "All those guys are -- especially Gunner, too -- the hard work is definitely paying off. I think Gunner can definitely attest to that for sure.
"So all that work you put in, whether it’s in the weight room, in the playbook and just learning things from his rookie year. He got some time to play, especially on special teams -- and on offense. So he used those things to kind of build off of it and catapult into the next year. We’re taking a day-by-day in that room and he’s working really really hard, as are all the guys.”
If things continue the way that they are going, Olszewski has a good chance at making the Patriots roster for the second straight season.
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