It’s weapons season in Foxboro and to celebrate the annual holiday, fans are once again clamoring for the team to sign or trade for a bona fide No. 1 receiver. It certainly makes more sense than ever this year, with quarterback Mac Jones on his rookie contract for four more seasons and the offense seemingly one top-flight guy away from taking things to the next level.
Assuming they’re not franchise-tagged by March 8, Green Bay’s Davante Adams, Tampa Bay’s Chris Godwin, Los Angeles’ Mike Williams and Chicago’s Allen Robinson will be available and would immediately become the team’s No. 1 receiver. There’s also a deep group of second tier options who would fit nicely as well.
But what if the player the Patriots decide to build the offensive passing game around is (*ducks) already on the roster? The player in mind is Kendrick Bourne. A free agent signing from a year ago, Bourne totaled 55 catches for 800 yards and five touchdowns – all career highs – in his first season in New England. Obviously, those numbers don’t rival any of the aforementioned receivers who could be had in free agency, but one could argue an expanded role for Bourne would lead to WR1 levels of production.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Jones-Bourne connection was the third-most productive in the league last season. In a stat compiled of yard-after-catch (YAC), expected points added (EPA), and openness percentiles, the Patriots duo trailed only the Super Bowl champion Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp and the Packers tandem of Aaron Rodgers and Adams.
Better than Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and Mahomes to Tyreek Hill. Better than Tom Brady and Mike Evans. Better than Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase.
Listen, no one is pretending these analytics make the Jones and Bourne connection the second coming of Brady to Randy Moss. But when you consider Bourne’s year and the fact that he only played 52% of the team’s offensive snaps, it’s easy to imagine what an expanded role could produce.
Jones’ connection with Bourne seemingly grew by the week, culminating in one of the very few bright spots from the team’s loss to Buffalo in the wild card round. At the end of the day, there’s a strong case to be made for the Patriots to follow the recipe that pairs their young quarterback with an elite wide receiver, which has worked for teams like the Bills and Bengals. But with other needs elsewhere and less cap money to spend than a year ago, don’t be surprised if the route the team takes to address wide receiver is an expanded role for Bourne and a pick in the draft.