Following Friday’s OTA workout at Gillette Stadium wide receiver Kendrick Bourne seemed to have a lot to say about now-former Patriots offensive play caller Matt Patricia without ever actually mentioning his former coach’s name.
Simply put, the way Bourne described new New England offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien, the new offense and the new year said it all.
“Bill’s familiar with what he’s doing, so it feels good,” Bourne said fresh off the third OTA of the spring open to reporters. “You can tell he knows what he’s doing in all areas of the offense from receiver, linemen, running back, he knows offense a lot so it feels good.
“He’s doing well. He knows how to engage with all of us, I feel like. He knows our traits right now and he knows where to put us. So it’s been good. We’re still learning each other as a group. But he’s doing well. You can tell he knows what he’s doing.”
Certainly sounds like Bourne thinks O’Brien “knows what he’s doing.” After last season’s “experiment” with the career defensive coach Patricia running a Patriots offense that was the worst the team had fielded in decades, it certainly seems like Bourne’s words of praise for O’Brien were at least somewhat in juxtaposition to last season’s dysfunction.
“No doubt. It just feels good. Change is good. So it’s something we needed, I feel,” Bourne said, allowing for his comments to appear in relation to last season. “It feels good so far. So if that’s what it’s going to be…it’s better so far.”
Other than Mac Jones, Bourne may be the poster boy for all that went wrong in New England a year ago. He found himself seemingly in the dog house in the summer and never came close to realizing the expectations he had for himself or those that many had for him.
In his first season in New England in 2021 Bourne had career highs in catches (55), yards (800) and touchdowns (5, tied) while starting five games as arguably the Patriots most dangerous playmaker in Josh McDaniels’ offense. Last fall in Patricia’s scheme, Bourne started just two games while catching 35 passes for 434 yards with one touchdown. He, like the offense as a whole, regressed mightily.
“New year. New me. New us. New everything,” Bourne said of putting 2022 in the past. “That’s what we’re focused on. That’s always the goal every year is to move forward and be better.”
Bourne was not shy about the fact that he’s put on some new muscle this offseason – doing a double-biceps pose when asked about it by a reporter.
“Last year, I was very disappointed in myself and my play and everything, how my year went. So just giving myself the best opportunity to be the best I can for the team,” Bourne said. “I didn’t give the team my best effort. So personally, we all as players need to be our best so we can give the team the best opportunity to win. And I felt like I didn’t do that. So I’ve been grinding. Trying to get bigger. And just being a more solid receiver to be able to do more.
“I just wasn’t in a good place. Now I want to avoid that.
So it was a good learning process. It was good it happened to me. It’s always good to learn from hard times, struggling times.”
It also seems it’s good to be in a new year with new beginnings with a new coach, too.