Jarrett Stidham may not have the supporting cast he needs, according to the digital scouting service Pro Football Focus. Whoever is at the helm of the New England Patriots offense, whether Stidham or Brian Hoyer, he will be carrying a group of receivers who were unimpressive in 2019.
PFF ranked the Patriots’ wideouts at 29th, ahead of just the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Washington Redskins. New England’s group in 2020 is likely to be comprised of Julian Edelman, Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry, Damiere Byrd, Jakobi Meyers, Gunner Olszewski and Marqise Lee, among others. The top three will likely be Edelman, Sanu and Harry.
Here’s what they wrote about New England’s receiving unit:
“While many will point to Tom Brady’s numbers last season, the big problem with the Patriots’ offense was that they just didn’t have receivers who could separate downfield. Julian Edelman remains one of the more reliable slot options in the short and intermediate range, but Mohamed Sanu added very little after he was acquired by the Patriots midseason (57.1 overall grade post-trade) and N’Keal Harry’s rookie campaign was a disappointment headlined by an injury that sidelined him for a large portion of the season. The two tight ends New England picked up in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft should see playing time, given the lack of options in front of them on the depth chart, but neither is likely to really solve the issue as a rookie. The Patriots’ biggest hope for the year will be that Harry takes a big step forward in a healthy sophomore campaign.”
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This offseason, the Patriots did little to upgrade the position, with signings of Lee and Byrd, both getting roughly the veteran minimum. And then New England elected not to draft a receiver in what appeared to be a historically deep class. Bill Belichick explained he felt he’d made sizable investments in the position by drafting Harry at 32nd overall in 2019 and by trading a 2020 second-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for Sanu during last season.
If those two investments show more upside than they did last year — and Harry, in particular, should improve in a big way in 2020 — then perhaps the Patriots will move up this ranking.
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