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Patriots 2024 roster reset: Underwhelming WR room needs a boost originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Editor’s Note: With the beginning of NFL free agency looming on March 13, our Patriots Insider Tom E. Curran is resetting each Patriots position by assessing their 2023 performance, laying out their 2024 contract status and ranking their offseason priority on a scale of 1 to 5.
First up was quarterback. Next on the docket: wide receiver.
Did anyone really think that the wideout complement of DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton and rookies DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte would be semi-potent in 2023?
I am sheepishly raising my hand. Sheepishly. Whether it was the protection, the quarterback, the scheme, the coaching or all of the above, the aforementioned Patriots wide receivers combined for 163 catches. Eighty-six of those came from Bourne and Douglas. The wideouts as a group scored five touchdowns. So there’s a lot to plow through.
Bright spots from 2023
As noted, it was a lean year for the wideouts. Bright spots … hmmm.
Bourne exceeding his entire 16-game output from 2022 in the season’s first eight games (37 catches for 406 yards and four TDs compared to 35-434-1 last season) deserves mention. His brightness dimmed significantly when he blew out his knee and went to IR.
Douglas also qualified. He ripped it up in training camp, ripped it up in preseason, really ripped it up in joint practices against the Packers and commenced ripping it up in the season opener with four catches for 40 yards on 33 snaps.
Then he fumbled in the second game of the year, got benched after eight snaps and got sent to a three-game detention in which he played 17, 18 and seven snaps, respectively. The Patriots blew the dust off him eventually and he became the team’s most potent wideout through the end of the season.
Overall, Douglas averaged 6.9 yards after catch per reception (YAC) which was third in the NFL among wideouts with more than 40…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/patriots-2024-roster-reset-underwhelming-140817262.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-02-27 14:12:23
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