Looking all the way back to the turn of the century, the New England Patriots’ history of drafting wide receivers has not been pretty. Since 2000, only two wide receivers that the team has drafted — Julian Edelman and Matthew Slater — have made the Pro Bowl. Although he has been a staple at the NFL’s annual all-star game since 2011, Slater’s inclusion should come with an asterisk, as every Pro Bowl he has made has come with a special teams designation. Drafted in the seventh round of the 2009 draft as a converted quarterback out of Kent State, Edelman is one of the longest shots in recent memory to pay off with a potential Hall-of-Fame career. Truthfully, it was more likely that Edelman would have been out of the NFL selling used cars in 2014 than making his first Pro Bowl appearance.
Besides Slater and Edelman, the list of the Patriots’ early-round WR selections through the years is littered with names who created some buzz, but failed to return any value. (The list includes many forgotten names such as: Chad Jackson, Brandon Tate, Aaron Dobson, Malcolm Mitchell, and, perhaps most memorably, N’Keal Harry.) The jury is still out on recent draftees Tyquan Thornton, DeMario Douglas, and Kayshon Boutte, but currently all three of their profiles seem to have more miss than hit to them.
After the reign of Bill Belichick ended this offseason, the Patriots were in prime position to revamp their roster; owning the highest draft slot since Belichick took over in 2000. With the third overall pick in the draft, New England added their franchise cornerstone in QB Drake Maye. The team then went on to use early Day 2 and Day 3 picks to add WRs Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker to the roster to help ease Maye’s transition to the NFL. While Belichick is gone, his successor, Jerod Mayo, was promoted from within. Similarly, de facto general manager Eliot Wolf has been a member of the team’s front office since 2020, which may signal business as usual in New England from an organizational standpoint. With the Patriots’ dismal track record of drafting WRs, should fantasy managers be willing to add the 2024 rookies to dynasty rosters, or will business as usual lead to the same disappointment we have grown accustomed to over the years in New England?
