Patriots offseason preview: Wide receiver position in need of serious upgrades

New England has some work to do to improve its receiving corps.

While the NFL playoffs head into the conference championship round, the New England Patriots embark on a franchise-altering journey through the offseason.

In multiple aspects, they are very much starting from scratch. Parting ways with head coach and quasi-general manager Bill Belichick after 24 seasons, the rebuild is impacting all levels of the organization — from the coaching staff, to the personnel department, to the roster.

To start our offseason coverage, we will take a look at that latter part and analyze New England’s roster one position at a time. What is on the table coming off the 2023 season, what might be in store for 2024, and where the strengths and weaknesses lie. Today, the series continues at wide receiver.

Position depth chart

Kendrick Bourne (28 | UFA): Bourne bounced back nicely from a subpar 2022 season, catching a then-team-leading 37 passes for 406 yards and four touchdowns over the first eight games of the regular season. However, that eighth contest turned out to be his final one of the year: the Patriots’ No. 1 wide receiver tore his ACL against the Miami Dolphins, dealing a major blow to an offense already struggling to play competitive football.

DeMario Douglas (23 | signed through 2026): If there is one positive to take away from the Patriots’ wide receiver group in 2023, it is the play of sixth-round rookie DeMario Douglas. The Liberty product established himself as a dynamic playmaker on a team not necessarily full of them, and finished his first NFL season leading New England with 561 receiving yards on 49 catches; he also gained an additional 41 yards on eight rushing attempts, and averaged 5.1 yards on 11 punt returns. Unfortunately, Douglas also had to miss three games due to two separate concussions.

DeVante Parker (30 | signed through 2025): Whatever promise Parker showed in his first year as a Patriots was gone by his second. The veteran did catch two more passes in 2023 (33) than 2022 (31) but he gained only 394 yards and did not find the end zone even once. There were positive moments, especially after Bailey Zappe was inserted at quarterback, but all in all it was not enough from New England’s supposed No. 1 perimeter target.

JuJu Smith-Schuster (27 | signed through 2025): The Patriots decided to invest in Smith-Schuster rather than retain Jakobi Meyers in free agency, and the decision did not pay off so far. The veteran was believed to add yards-after-the-catch ability but he averaged a career-low 3.3 yards in that category and ranked only 69th among all NFL wideouts — five spots behind Meyers. Before suffering a season-ending ankle injury, he caught just 29 passes for 260 yards and one touchdown in 11 games.

Tyquan Thornton (23 | signed through 2025): For the second straight year, Thornton had to start the season on injured reserve; a shoulder injury suffered in training camp kept him out of the first five games of the season. When he returned, he was a non-factor for much of the year. The former second-round draft pick caught just 13 passes for 91 yards. And while he did gain 51 yards on three carries, his production overall was disappointing.

Jalen Reagor (25 | UFA): Reagor joined the Patriots’ practice squad in late August, and by the end of the season was a starter-level wide receiver and the No. 1 kickoff returner. He fared fairly well in that second role — averaging 31.6 yards on seven returns and scoring a 98-yard touchdown versus Buffalo — but his production as a pass catcher was lacking: he caught just seven passes all season (even though he did take them for 138 yards resulting in an average of 19.7 yards per catch).

Kayshon Boutte (21 | signed through 2026): The other sixth-round rookie wide receiver, Boutte failed to make the same impact on New England’s offense as DeMario Douglas. A combination of performance and injury limited him to five games in 2023, and he caught just two passes for 19 yards. Despite the Patriots wide receiver room struggling, Boutte failed to take advantage.

T.J. Luther (23 | signed through 2024): An undrafted free agent pickup by the New York Jets earlier this year, Luther arrived in New England in early September via the practice squad. With the exception of a three-week stint on the open market he spent his entire rookie season there without seeing any game opportunities.

Tre Nixon (25 | ERFA): Third time was not the charm for Nixon. The 2021 seventh-round draft choice suffered a shoulder injury in preseason, and was waived with an injury designation because of it. He was not picked up, and landed on season-ending injured reserve.

Offseason preview

Besides DeMario Douglas’ development, half a season of steady production from Kendrick Bourne, and the occasional flash from other players on the depth chart, the Patriots’ wide receiver group was a disappointment in 2023. What was the reason for that, though? That is for the team and new head coach Jerod Mayo to decide.

It appears four factors contributed to the problems: player quality, coaching, quarterback play, and injury issues. While the team can only do so much about that last area, the others could very much all get addressed this offseason.

Regardless of what New England will opt to do, the wide receiver position will be in the spotlight this spring.

This process starts right away, with Mayo building his coaching staff. The Patriots will have a new offensive coordinator in 2024, and based on the first reported interviews it seems an outside hire is a realistic possibility.

If so, any change in scheme might also result in a change of wide receiver usage — from responsibilities, to roles, to workload — and coaching personnel: Troy Brown, who has coached the position since 2021, may not be back under a new OC (even though the Patriots did send him to the Senior Bowl to work as offensive coordinator for one of the two college all-star teams).

Regardless of Brown’s status, the Patriots need to find a way to get better production out of its pass catchers. Free agency also will play a part in that, especially considering the team might have more than $70 million in cap space available and is apparently willing to “burn some cash.”

Without knowing who the offensive coordinator will be, and what system will be run, it is difficult to assess where the team’s priorities might lie as it relates to the open market. However, it would make sense to retain two of the unrestricted free agents: Kendrick Bourne and Jalen Reagor have performed well in the past, and would likely come relatively cheap given their injury status and lack of receiver production, respectively.

Those being all the free agency moves at the position should not be expected, however. Considering their resources, the Patriots could go after big-name free agency targets such as Tee Higgins, Michael Pittman Jr., Marquise Brown, or Calvin Ridley, among others.

In addition, the Patriots have to decide what to do with the other wideouts currently under contract. JuJu Smith-Schuster seems locked into a roster spot based on the structure of his deal, but no other player besides DeMario Douglas should be considered save.

As far as the draft is concerned, the Patriots are in prime position to add talent. First of all, the team will have to decide whether arguably the best player in the draft — Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. — would be a better get at No. 3 than targeting a quarterback either through a trade up (or even down) or by staying put.

Fact is, however, that this wide receiver class is one of the deepest in recent memory. Up to six wideouts might hear their names called in the first round in April — Harrison as well as Malik Nabers (LSU), Rome Odunze (Washington), Keon Coleman (Florida State), Brian Thomas Jr. (LSU), Troy Franklin (Oregon) — and the talent extends beyond Day 1. Even if New England decides to forgo the position with its first pick, which is very possible given the need for upgraded quarterback play, there is potential to be found all over the draft.

Given that the Patriots have virtually no core at the position to speak of outside of DeMario Douglas and, based on his contract, JuJu Smith-Schuster, investments should be expected to happen. What they will look like, ultimately, will depend in large part on the offense the new offensive coordinator is going to implement.

New England running it back with the same group of players in 2024, however, should not be expected to happen.