The New England Patriots enter this coming season as a completely new team. They had what many considered to be the best offseason in the NFL after a busy free agency period and successful draft.
The team is hoping last season’s mess with head coach Jerod Mayo leading away can be cleaned up by incoming head coach Mike Vrabel, who has much more head coaching experience than Mayo had when he was hired.
The lingering part of last year’s mess is now sophomore wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk. Polk was selected in the second round at 37th overall in what turned out to be a loaded draft class.
Unfortunately for the Patriots, after Polk put up just 12 receptions for 87 yards and two touchdowns in 15 games, it seems the team somehow missed out on all of the talented receivers drafted around him.
The team brought in Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins in free agency, and added Kyle Williams in the third round in this year’s draft, so Polk will have a lot to prove this offseason if he wants to stick around on the roster, never mind earn playing time.
With a whole new coaching staff coming in, Polk’s second-round status likely won’t help him much, as he was not drafted to be a part of the Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels offense.
He will also be competing on the wide receiver depth chart with fellow sophomore Javon Baker, Demario “Pop” Douglas, Kendrick Bourne, and Kayshon Boutte, so there is very little room for error.
It is still early, but if the coaching staff decides to lean more on veterans at receiver to help out Drake Maye, that could spell trouble for Polk.
A lot of NFL pundits have pointed to Jerod Mayo and Alex Van Pelt being not great coaches as the reason for Polk’s struggles, so he will have to show growth during OTAs to show that was indeed the case.
However, it is hard to be confident after other young receivers, like Boutte and Douglas, showed growth last season despite the awful circumstances.
No matter what the first impression of Polk is from the new coaching staff, he has a huge uphill battle to overcome if he wants to earn a spot in the New England receiving core.
