The New England Patriots knew they needed to get a wide receiver in the 2024 NFL Draft. Their receiving core was one of the weakest in the NFL last season. Having Kendrick Bourne and Demario Douglas as your top wide receivers is not going to get the job done.
The Patriots originally had the 34th pick, which was the second pick in the second round. However, they made a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers and dropped down to the 37th pick.
After trading down three picks, the New England Patriots drafted Washington wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk. It’s a receiver, just maybe not the receiver that many Patriots fans thought the team would take. With the 34th pick that the Chargers got from the Pats, they drafted Georgia wide receiver Ladd McConkey, a player who was much higher up than Polk on draft analysts’ position rankings, including ESPN’s Mel Kiper.
Was This A Reach In the 2024 NFL Draft?
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Ja’Lynn Polk was ranked 15th on Mel Kiper’s wide receiver rankings in the 2024 NFL Draft. Ladd McConkey was ranked ninth and Texas wide receiver Adonai Mitchell, another receiver that Patriots fans were hoping the team would get, was ranked eighth. Florida State wideout Keon Coleman was also on the board when the Patriots were on the clock with the 37th pick.
In addition to Coleman, there were four other wide receivers ranked higher than Polk. They include Michigan wide receiver Roman Wilson, Oregon receiver Troy Franklin, Western Kentucky receiver Malachi Corley, and Polk’s Washington teammate Jalen McMillan.
The New England Patriots could have drafted any of these players but they didn’t. This slight reach makes me think Bill Belichick is somehow still secretly managing the team. With this being said, Eliot Wolf and the rest of the Patriots’ front office saw something in Polk that made him stand out from the rest of the remaining wide receivers on the board.
Ja’Lynn Polk’s Stats
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In three seasons at the University of Washington, and his first year at Texas Tech, Ja’Lynn Polk recorded 2,231 receiving yards, 18 touchdowns, and averaged 16.5 yards per catch. 2023 was the only season where Polk went over 1,000 receiving yards.
In 2022, the Washington wide receiver recorded 694 yards and 6 touchdowns. In 2023, he recorded 1,159 receiving yards, nine touchdowns, and 16.8 yards per catch. Ja’Lynn Polk’s stats aren’t the most impressive, but they’re not bad.
Mina Kimes’ Praise For Ja’Lynn Polk
Pats fans you got a good one https://t.co/8Tlak0zmoR
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) April 26, 2024
ESPN NFL Analyst Mina Kimes had some good things to say about the Washington wide receiver.
“He catches literally everything thrown at him. Good frame, good route running ability…”
Polk also garnered over 1,000 receiving yards with the #2 ranked wide receiver in the 2024 NFL Draft Rome Odunze alongside him so that has to count for something.
Ja’Lynn Polk had a 4.52 40-yard dash time, not an incredibly fast time. He did not crack the top 10 of 40-yard dash times among wide receivers but they are known for being one of the fastest positions in football so speed is a very high standard. He was known at the NFL Combine as being a “building junkie”, tirelessly working on his game and putting the hours in on the field or in the gym.
To be fair to Polk, there are a lot of incredibly talented wide receivers in this draft. We’ve got generational prospect Marvin Harrison Jr. who was selected fourth overall by the Arizona Cardinals. When’s the last time you’ve seen a wide receiver get picked inside the top five? Then at number six, the New York Giants drafted LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers. At number nine, the Chicago Bears drafted Rome Odunze to go along with their number one pick Caleb Williams.
Brian Thomas Jr., Xavier Worthy, and Xavier Legette were other receivers picked in the first round. This was a more wide receiver-heavy draft than usual. Sometimes there are only one or two wide receivers taken in the first round. The 2024 NFL Draft was an exception.
There is going to be another pro athlete in the Boston area whose name sounds the same, ala Jaylen Brown. Ja’Lynn Polk wasn’t the highest-ranked wide receiver on the board when the New England Patriots drafted him in the second round but where you’re ranked doesn’t matter always.
The New England Patriots Know About Picking Underrated Guys
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The Patriots would certainly know about players who you didn’t know were going to be good until you saw them play. Just look at the GOAT Tom Brady. Six quarterbacks were picked ahead of him in the 2000 NFL Draft. It doesn’t mean everything where you rank. It matters how you impact the game on the field when it is your time. Perhaps that will be the case for Ja’Lynn Polk.
He’s not going to be anywhere as good as Tom Brady, but it’s the sentiment that matters. Not all first-rounders turn out to be good, and not all second-rounders or even sixth-rounders turn out to be bad. Some of them turn out to be great actually!
About The Author
Cooper Sherman is an avid NFL fan and enjoys watching and covering it the most. The NFL is king. He previously wrote and was a podcaster for the online publications Pro Sports Fanatics and Jersey Column. He is also an NBA fan and watches it occasionally, more when the NFL season ends. Tennis is also an underrated sport to watch. His teams are the Patriots and Celtics, as tough as it is to be a Patriots fan right now. He is optimistic that Jerod Mayo will turn this team in the right direction! Follow him on Instagram and Threads @coopstershermy456, and X/Twitter @justcoopthings.
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