Surging Patriots Rookie Suddenly Projected for Big Early Role

The New England Patriots head into the 2024 campaign with tempered expectations. They have a new head coach in Jerod Mayo and are building a new culture.

They have a good mix of young players and veterans on the roster who can contribute. Training camp officially starts on July 24 and the real work begins before the regular season starts in September.

This a great opportunity for rookies to make a positive impression and it sounds like a rookie from this 2024 draft class has already been doing that throughout the offseason.

The Pats selected wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk with the 37th overall pick and the Athletic's Chad Graff believes that he could be slated to have a big role this season.

"Slowly, Polk got more opportunities with the first-team offense. He didn’t make any splashy plays until that final one, but he was a steady, reliable target in minicamp. As training camp nears, Polk has a chance to be the Patriots’ No. 1 receiver in the season opener if Kendrick Bourne needs more time to recover from last season’s ACL tear."

- Chad Graff

If that wasn't enough, Graff continued to rave about Polk.

"Polk is going to get a lot of opportunities with the first-team offense. Bourne probably isn’t going to be ready right from the start. Baker is going to take some time. So Polk has a chance to make a big impact from the beginning," Graff stated.

Polk can win at all three levels and owns terrific hands with a large catch radius. The 22-year-old doesn't have game-breaking speed but he knows how to win with timing and runs crisp routes.

In the 2023 season at Washington, he logged 69 receptions for 1,159 yards and nine touchdowns. During OTAs and minicamp, Polk steadily improved and even made a leaping grab and contorted his body to get both feet inbounds during the last play of spring practices. The pass came from Maye and New England is hoping this is the just beginning of a beautiful connection for years to come.

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