Breer: There’s ‘something messed up’ in Patriots’ receiver room originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
It’s no secret that the New England Patriots are devoid of wide receiver talent. But few could have expected this.
The Patriots’ wideouts have been a disaster this season, to put it mildly. Their most “productive” receiver, DeMario Douglas, ranks 73rd in the NFL with just 306 yards in nine games. Kayshon Boutte (203 yards) is the only other receiver with more than 100 yards on the season, while second-round rookie Ja’Lynn Polk has caught just 10 of his 24 targets for 78 yards and had another rough performance in the Patriots’ overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. (Fourth-round rookie Javon Baker, meanwhile, has yet to catch an NFL pass.)
And that’s just on the field; off the field, Polk drew unwanted attention by boasting he has the “best hands in the league,” Osborn appeared to suggest he wouldn’t mind being traded, and Baker got disciplined by the team after going on Instagram Live to criticize a police officer after receiving a traffic ticket.
So, yeah. It’s bad. But what’s most concerning is that for the most part, the performance and behavior of the Patriots’ receivers doesn’t jive with their reputations. Which leads Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer to believe something is amiss.
“There’s something happening in that room,” Breer said on NBC Sports Boston’s Sports Sunday, as seen in the video player above. “Because Ja’Lynn Polk’s reputation coming out (of the NFL Draft) was pristine character. Someone is dragging everybody down. The accountability is not taking place in that room.
“(Kendrick) Bourne was, for the most part, a pretty decent soldier before this. K.J. Osborn had a great reputation in Minnesota. Ja’Lynn Polk came into the draft with incredible character reviews. Like, there’s something that’s messed up in that room.”
The Patriots could be suffering from a lack of veteran presence at the position. Bourne and Osborn are the only wideouts with more than two full seasons of NFL experience, but Bourne missed all of preseason and the first four regular season games while receiving from knee surgery, while Osborn just joined the team in March.
This relatively green group is led by a first-year receivers coach in Tyler Hughes, who was coaching high school football in Utah five years ago and entered the season with just three seasons of NFL experience (offensive assistant with the Patriots from 2020 to 2022). Both Breer and the Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard agreed that’s not an ideal combination.
“I think part of it’s probably having a position coach who’s as inexperienced as (Tyler Hughes) is. It’s not a good situation,” Breer said.
“Everybody around the league said that it is a volatile mix,” Bedard added. “And Tyler Hughes being inexperienced — there were a lot of questions about that room.”
It’s possible New England’s receiver room gets more inexperienced in the next 24 hours, as both Osborn and Tyquan Thornton have drawn interest ahead of Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline, per Breer. But considering what’s plagued this group so far this season, it might benefit the Patriots to consider adding an “adult in the room” at receiver, even if it means giving up draft assets.
The Patriots need to do everything they can to support talented rookie quarterback Drake Maye going forward, and that should start with revamping a disastrous receiver room.