New England Patriots: Wide receiver position still needs boost

Can’t agree at all with Greg Bedard of Greg Bedard Patriots Podcast on a major point recently on the topic of wide receivers on the New England Patriots roster. He said on his podcast that he is comfortable with the current group of wideouts.

Qualifying it, he did say that they can’t be totally solid at every position. For sure. As a fan who very much appreciates what Bedard provides, on this one, I can’t agree.

The Patriots need an addition at wideout and they need one now. The team passed on Julio Jones at maybe an exorbitant (or not?) price, whatever. They still need a No. 1 receiver.

No matter how one looks at the current situation, the New England Patriots still need help at the wide receiver position. Having passed on Jones, they need help.

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While this space advocated for going all-in on Jones, the Patriots passed. This was counter-intuitive to what this team has done this entire off-season which was to go for the gold.

Why did they pull up, like on a horse about to go over a cliff?

The New England Patriots still need a top receiver

Only the insiders really know why the Patriots passed up a chance at a Hall of Fame receiver. The conventional argument was that the cap hit/salary was too much. Yawwwnnnn … Not convincing.

The real reason may never be public, but the decision still stands out as a weird non-action in an off-season of positive action.

And unless the Patriots move to trade for a top wide receiver between now and training camp, they may have just squandered a major opportunity to go deep onto the playoffs, as they say.

Obviously, the Patriots hierarchy decided to splash the cash and also actually draft sensibly in the 2021 offseason. Thank you, Mr. Robert Kraft.

Yet, with this in mind, why have they not provided the key weapon for their quarterback, Cam Newton? Who knows why.

Newton, the presumptive starting quarterback, was vilified in the media for his season in 2020. That has been answered demonstrably elsewhere and that blarney need not be addressed again.

Yet, the most imperative need for the club on offense (outside the truly pathetic tight end situation) was at wide receiver. Their top receiver caught a meager 59 passes. Not good.

Yet, New England in its new spendthrift mode paid big bucks for two good but not top wideouts in Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne. Why not just pay big for one top wideout?

For whatever reason, they didn’t. Yet, to complete their offense now, they still need that 80+ reception guy to get them where they just may have the talent to be. The playoffs.

Now, with Jones, a Hall of Fame-caliber receiver, a player who went for big-cap money and chump change in draft picks, off the market, where do the Patriots now turn?

The answer may be, nowhere. The team squandered their best opportunity to make a major statement to the entire NFL by trading for Jones. That statement was, “We’re back!.”

Instead, they punted and it wasn’t a great Jake Bailey punt. It was a shank. They flubbed it.

Not sure how the Patriots can remedy this situation now. Possibly, either Agholor and/or Bourne may emerge into an 80-catch receiver. But don’t count on it. They are what they are.

And the New England Patriots are what they are, as well. A team that is very good now, far better than in 2020, but absent that top receiver, maybe not what could they have been, great.