When it comes to the Patriots offense and the passing game in particular, all everyone wants to talk about is the quarterback and if not that position then tight end.
And for good reason.
The Patriots have a legitimate quarterback competition between Cam Newton and Mac Jones, and then acquired two of the better tight ends in the league this offseason in Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith.
But when it comes to the wide receiver position, there hasn’t been much talk about it this summer, which is because it's been fairly underwhelming.
This position could potentially be an issue come the start of the season.
As of now, the room has Nelson Agholor, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, N’Keal Harry, Gunner Olszewski, Kristian Wilkerson, Isaiah Zuber, Devin Ross and Tre Nixon (we’re counting Matthew Slater towards special teams).
It’s hard to imagine the team keeping any more than six players and of those six, there isn’t a true No. 1 or 2 receiver. It’s pretty much a collection of No. 3s and 4s.
Bourne hinted earlier in the week the plan is for Agholor, Meyers and himself to be the top three receivers come the start of the regular season.
That’s not very good and would arguably be one of the worst top three receiver groups in the league. All three players had career year's last year and it’s hard to imagine all three of them repeating it in 2021.
Besides those three, there’s Harry, who has flashed in 1-on-1 drills, but still cannot carry it over to games. Wilkerson had a strong start, but has faded of late. And then Olszewski seems like just a returner at this point.
Although Agholor didn’t dress, last Thursday’s game against Washington could have been a sign of things to come as the receivers failed to create separation and couldn’t make any plays for the quarterbacks.
Like last year, it feels like each player is playing a spot ahead of where they should be. Agholor may be the No. 1 right now, but on most teams he’s a No. 2 or No. 3. Meyers is the No. 2, but on most other teams he’d be a solid No. 3.
The hope is Henry and Smith can help pick up some of the slack at the tight end position, but it doesn’t help that both have already gotten banged up and have missed time.
The other thing is if the receivers don’t pose any threat, opposing defenses can just focus on shutting down Henry and Smith.
Since the offseason began, we said the Patriots were short a true No. 1 receiver and that continues to be the case. If there was a true No. 1, then the others could slide into more of their natural roles.
It hasn’t been brought up much so far, but if there’s a major lack of offensive production early in the season, this will be one of the major reasons why.
