Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots February 12, 2018 - Offseason Positional Review: Wide Receivers

Episode Date: February 12, 2018

The New England Patriots look set at wide receiver, but if they do make an addition it might be at the slot receiver spot. Mark Schofield walks through the options and then chats with Joseph Ferraiola, the WR scout for Inside the Pylon, about three potential options for the Patriots in the upcoming NFL Draft.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good morning and welcome into Locked On Patriots for Monday, February 12th, 2018. Mark Schofield here in the big chair as I am bringing you the best Patriots news, notes, and analysis. Follow my work on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Reminder to check out the work over at InsideThePylon.com as well as LockedOnPatriots. Today we're going to be diving into our positional reviews again. Offseason is now fully underway. Last week we started on safe territory for your host with the quarterbacks. Today we're going to move to the wide receiver group and what we're gonna do is we're gonna talk briefly about the guys currently on the

roster one big free agent decision that the Patriots will have to make actually two big free agent decisions that the Patriots have to make to the Patriots current wide receivers are headed into free agency then what we're gonna do is talk briefly about some potential free agents out there on the market in case they need to make a move in free agency, depending on how those decisions that they have to make regarding their current roster shake out. And then later in the show, I'm going to be joined by Joseph Ferriola of InsideThePylon.com. He is our wide receiver scout over there doing work on the upcoming Inside the Pylon draft guide. He's going to talk to me about three potential targets that the Patriots might look at in this upcoming draft class, dependent again

on how free agency shakes out. It's interesting when you talk about this wide receiver group for the New England Patriots because when you take a step back and try to take stock of all the positional units in New England, wide receiver might sort of be their deepest spot. I'm going to try to categorize these guys by X receiver, Z receiver, and slot receiver. X and Z, your boundary types. Slot receiver, your inside guys. And they're pretty good depth-wise at all of these spots. We can start sort of with Z, your flanker.

Usually a boundary receiver, an outside receiver, but guys that move around a little bit. And you start at the outset sort of with Brandon Cooks out there, Phillip Dorsett behind him. You know, that's pretty good too deep-wise. Cooks had, you know, for my money, he had a very good debut season for the New England Patriots. And the Super Bowl, you could argue, really sort of changed for the Patriots

when Cooks was knocked out of that game. I think they sort of lost a big target, a downfield-type target, not big in terms of size, but a big component of their passing game. Look, Cooks saw 114 targets for 65 receptions over 1,000 yards, seven touchdowns. He was their sort of deep threat this year, their big play guy down the field. And when they lost that component against the Eagles in the Super Bowl,

it kind of took away from what they were doing offensively, I think. It took them a while to sort of get back on track offensively. And they brought in Philip Dorsett, who they acquired again in the Jacoby Brissett trade, you know, and Dorsett's numbers this year weren't huge at all, you know, but I think he's still sort of, you know, Phil's a nice role for this team. He was only targeted 18 times for 12 catches, 194 yards,

no touchdowns on the year. But I still think he's, you know, once he gets sort of a full season under his belt, an off season in New England, he could be a contributor to this team. Again, behind Cooks. He did have one catch in the Super Bowl for 19 yards. And then I think when you look at the other side,

sort of your X-type guys, and again, the Patriots, the roles are interchangeable somewhat, but looking at more Chris Hogan as your X-type guy, didn't have, you know, he was lost for a lot of the season with injury. Sort of didn't have the kind of numbers that he had a year ago with the Patriots. 2016 season, 57 targets, 38 receptions for 680 yards and 4 touchdowns. This year, numbers were fairly similar.

The yardage was down low. 59 targets, 34 receptions for 439 yards and 5 touchdowns. Yards per reception, his average last year was 17.9. That was the best of his career last year. It dipped this past season. It dipped to 12.9. Obviously, a big function of that was now with Cooks. He's the more downfield guy.

Hogan becomes sort of the more intermediate guy that you use outs, comebacks, dig routes while you're using Cooks over the top. And then, you know, the Patriots behind Hogan, they get Malcolm Mitchell back. So that's obviously going to help them. One of the things people were clamoring for all season long was the return of Malcolm Mitchell. That never quite happened, but I know he has fans out there.

Shout out to my mom. Hi, Mom. My mom is a huge Malcolm Mitchell fan. And they also have some guys behind them. Look, you've got Kenny Britt, you've got Cody Hollister, Riley McCarron, Bernard Reedy. So there are some depth guys there. So I think for the most part, Patriots are kind of set on the outside. The decision kind of comes in two ways that the Patriots face.

When you get more inside, when you think about the role of the slot receiver in the New England Patriots offense, it plays a big role. And the two guys that serve in that role, there are some issues there. Julian Adam will be coming back from injury. And he turns 32 in May. Danny Amendola is a free agent right now.

And he just turned 32 as well. Both those players have injury histories. The other free agent the Patriots have at this wide receiver group is Matthew Slater. And I believe Slater is sort of a different discussion because his primary role on this team is as a special teams gunner. And he's one of the best in the game at it. And I fully anticipate the Patriots doing what they can to bring him back because of the role that he plays on this team and the importance that this organization places on special teams, on field position.

I think if you sort of look back, an interesting off-season project I think would be for somebody to sort of look back and see what Slater has added to this team in terms of field position. I think that would be an interesting little project, something I might take up on. So I think Slater comes back, but that's sort of a separate discussion. With Amendola, I do think the Patriots also try to bring him back. I said this earlier. But I think they're going to try to want to do it

on somewhat of a team-friendly basis. You know, his current contractual value, you know, $1.7 million with $1.3 of it guaranteed. You know, so I do assume that the Patriots are going to try to get him back obviously played a huge role down the stretch for this team

in the postseason had big games against the Titans against the Jaguars he became the guy that Brady sort of looked to in clutch moments down the stretch this season. 11 targets, 8 receptions for 152 yards in the Super Bowl. 2 touchdowns against Jacksonville. 13 targets for 11 receptions and 112 yards against the Titans.

And on the season, 86 targets for 61 receptions, 659 yards, two touchdowns, 39 first downs. Only Gronkowski and Cooks had more first down receptions this year for the New England Patriots than Danny Amendola. So I do believe they try to get Amendola back. And if they do, they can return their entire wide receiver group. Probably won't even need to address the position. And they'll be ready to go next year. But if for some reason they can't reach an agreement with Amendola, or maybe they do, but they just want to get some sort of insurance some depth at that slot receiver spot because it is a critical component to the New England offense and given the age and injury concerns and history that you might have with Amendola and Edelman

maybe they look to bring somebody in and so if New England makes a move this offseason, I expect it to be at the slot receiver spot. That's if they make a move this offseason addressing the wide receiver position. So that's where I really want to focus. That's going to be the focus of my discussion now, some potential targets out there. And it was also the focus of my discussion with our good friend friend Joseph Ferriola. That's going to come up next. Potential slot receivers to target a free agency, as well as three guys that you should do some work on, you should get to know as we look towards the draft.

That's next with me, Mark Schofield, in Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back here with you now, talking off-al reviews starting with the quarterbacks last week. We've moved on to today's an addition to boost this group, I believe it would be at the slot receiver spot, given age and injury history with Dan Amendola and Julian Edelman. So I'm going to focus the rest of this conversation now on slot receivers. We're going to start with some potential free agent types out there. Talking about three guys here in order of, I i think least likely to most likely that the patriots might want to pursue in free agency and the top free agent wide receiver out there might

be again might be jarvis landry you know jarvis landry has put up some pretty big numbers for the mi Dolphins. Been utilized basically as a slot receiver. They do a lot of stuff with him down near the line of scrimmage. 2016 season, 131 targets for 94 catches, over 1,000 yards receiving, 12.1 yards per reception four touchdowns last year those numbers did drop a bit he saw more targets and receptions 161 targets last season for 112 receptions just 987 yards just 8.8 yards per reception but nine receiving touchdowns

and there were a lot of sort of questions and frustrations with how Adam Gase was using him in that Dolphins offense you know so there are some question marks about Landry but he's probably the best sort of slot type that's gonna be available now the issue with him is his market value. Looking over at sporttrack.com, they've calculated it out at about $13.8 million per season. So I almost think you look at that and you can just say, okay, I don't think the Patriots are going to even make an inquiry because that's a lot of money to tie up into basically a slot receiver.

Especially somebody that, you know, the way he was used last year, you sort of question the value that you would get in return on a contract of that size. So I don't think Landry's really going to be an option for the New England Patriots. You know, that's sort of a situation where

let somebody else go and overpay for him. But two other guys I think might be looked at by New England if they do address the wide receiver position, if they do look at a slot type guy. First, Taylor Gabriel. Currently with Atlanta. Wasn't a huge component of their offense.

Obviously, an offense with Julio Jones and Muhammad Sanu, an offense that uses a lot of tight ends. He's not going to be a big focus. Only had four starts this season, 51 targets, 33 receptions for 378 yards, just one touchdown. 2016, however, he had a really good season. The targets and the receptions were about the same, but 579 receiving yards, big sort of average there of 16.5 yards per catch, and six receiving touchdowns.

So I think this might be more in the range of what the Patriots might be looking for if they add a slot type guy. And his current contract, average salary, he was doing a one-year deal for $2.7 million. So you could probably get him in somewhere in the 2.5 area, I think. And, you know, Gabriel's 26. A little bit of a younger guy. I think he would fit schematically.

So he's somebody to keep an eye on. The guy that I'm most intrigued by in terms of a free agent group is Albert Wilson, Chiefs wide receiver, and somebody I think that brings some versatility to his next team because when you look at Wilson, he's a big contributor on special teams as well. He was the up back on their punt team, can do some stuff in the return game.

And he's a very good route runner. He's only 25. You know, he was on a one-year deal for 1.7 actually almost 1.8 million. So I think if they make a move, Albert Wilson will be an interesting guy,

plus, you know, Albert Wilson, you know, he went to Georgia State, athletic guy, can do some interesting, you know, stuff, he can do some interesting you know stuff he can do some stuff you know in the return game like I said

on special teams you know and if they move on from Slater for some reason he might be a good guy to sort of come in as both a slot type receiver

and a replacement for Slater he was a high school quarterback put up sort of incredible stuff down at Georgia State he was the first player in Georgia State history to even be invited to the NFL Combine you know so he's an athletic guy

he's really intriguing to me and if the Patriots do make a move in free agency to bring on a wide receiver, he'd be a guy I think New England would be all over. So that's a look at kind of the current free agents for New England, as well as some guys they might go after in free agency.

Guys I think they should be in on. Up ahead, my conversation with Joseph Ferriola about some draft prospects. That's next with me, Mark Schofield, and Locked On Patriots. Welcome back into Locked On Patriots, everybody, on this Monday edition of Locked On Patriots.

Lucky now to be joined by a fantastic guest. Since we're covering wide receivers, he is Joseph Ferriola. You can follow him on Twitter, at NFLDraftJoey. He is Joseph Ferriola. You can follow him on Twitter at NFL Draft Joey. He is a recent addition to Twitter. He had been fighting it for a long time, but we finally convinced him to join. He's one of the lead writers over at InsideThePylon.com. He scouts wide receivers for us for our upcoming draft guide. So who better to talk about wide receiver prospects

in the NFL draft for the New England Patriots. They're Mr. Joseph Ferriolo. My friend, how are you doing today? Great, Mark. Thanks for having me on. Thanks for coming on, buddy. And the reason why I wanted to have you on here is because, you know, as the listeners to this show heard sort of in the first half of it, I do think that at some point the Patriots address, you know, perhaps slot wide receiver in this upcoming draft.

Obviously, they've got guys like Malcolm Mitchell, Brandon Cooks, Philip Dorsett, Chris Hogan on the outside but I think with Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman obviously coming off of injuries and Edelman haven't missed the entire season Edelman being a free agent the Patriots might look at some slot receiver types and you were just out in Mobile with me scouting receivers. You've been scouting receivers for the draft guide all fall and winter, and you've got three recommendations for the New England Patriots and the slot receiver position. Is that correct, my friend? Yes, sir.

All right, and we're going to start sort of in kind of reverse order because the guy I want to save for last is the guy I'm most interested in. But let's start with Richie James Joseph quick overview on Mr. James yeah so Richie James um came out uh had a great sophomore season 2016 put up a lot of production and uh looked to build on that in his junior year registered junior this season, but he only played five games due to a high ankle sprain injury and a collarbone injury that knocked him out against Marshall. The great thing about that injury,

not great thing about an injury, but the impressive thing about the injury is against Marshall, he actually played a few more plays and drew in pass interference after suffering the collarbone injury. So that really shows his football character and his toughness. So, yeah, he's a really tough slot receiver.

He's actually one of my favorite slot receivers in the draft. He might be, like, my top one or two. But, yeah, Ricky James, Middle Tennessee State. Okay, when you're watching James on film, what are some of the strengths to his game? What really stands out for you when you're watching James on film, what are some of the strengths to his game? What really stands out for you when you're watching him on tape? Okay, so his strengths are

really just his quickness, his explosiveness, and his suddenness, especially at the top of his routes. And he really has great toughness, too, to win in traffic in the middle of the field for contested catches. So he's going to be a very reliable slot type receiver for any team that drafts him.

And I've actually had the pleasure of speaking with him for an interview for the 2018 ITP Draft Guide. And I've asked him a few questions. You guys can check that out when that releases in a couple months. But you could tell he's a really smart player. He has a high football intelligence. And that would work very well for the Patriots offense. But I'll get into that when you bring that up later about how he fits in New England.

Yeah, and with respect to James, there are few complete prospects in any draft class. When you've been watching him, when you've been studying him, have you come away with any sort of weaknesses to his game? Ah, man. So I think he fits like a perfect pure slot prototype. So there aren't many weaknesses from the slot position, in my opinion. He might want to improve how he changes his speeds, how he controls his speed. But basically, the main major concerns for Richie James are his size, because he's only like 5'9", maybe 5'10", around 180 pounds.

So when you see that he has size and injury flags, medical flags, you really come away with, all right, can he consistently be on the field at the next level? So that's really my only concern for him. But film-wise, he has some of the best tape out there. You mentioned, Joseph, the potential fit in New England. With the sort of caveat that New England does sort of value versatility, they do have a prototype when it comes to some receiver roles, one of them being the slot, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola? How would James fit into New England's offense?

I think he would fit in perfectly with the EP offense, man. He told me personally that he ran choice routes, option routes in college, and that's a great fit for the Erhard Perkins offense. Also, a cool thing about James is he played quarterback in high school. And I know New England likes to call those wide receiver passes, especially late in the season around playoff time, to full defense. And it almost worked in the Super Bowl the other day. Tom Brady came up with that catch.

But, yeah, I think they could use him a lot of different ways. He could even return punts and kicks, possibly. And I don't know. I just think that he would fit perfectly in New England with his intelligence and the versatility that he brings as a player. Also, the fact that he played quarterback, that probably reminds people of Julian Edelman. Joseph, let's move on to the next guy on this list, Christian Kirk.

What can you tell us about him? Okay, so Christian Kirk is a Texas A&M slot receiver. He's another guy who I think is just a pure slot. He's pretty interesting. Very good speed. He also returned kicks and punts for Texas A&M. Very explosive in that role. So he's basically a slot receiver and a returner.

He'll probably have an immediate impact on whatever team that drafts him playing the slot and as a returner in the kicking game. You mentioned speed as something that jumped out at you watching him. What other strengths did you see from Kirk when you studied him this fall and winter? Yeah, so speed is one thing. Like, he has very explosive speed. So, like, even on returns, you'll see that he has the vision to get through, like, holes that are created for him and cut off, off i mean not cut off um run past pursuit angles

uh of on special teams but in the receiving game he has great bursts um he's he's a real yards after catch receiver um and he's tough in the middle of the field uh reliable on third down the only thing is i think he's a body catcher more than a hands catcher so like he's going to need to rely on using his body to shield the cornerbacks in the middle of the field if he's going to consistently catch make that catch so but but overall i really like him i really like him as a third round option i know new england has a third rounder, but they don't have a pick in the fourth or the fifth, I believe. So I think

if they're really looking to upgrade the receiver position, they're going to have to use that third rounder if they want to get Christian Kirk. You mentioned the body catcher. Is that the biggest weakness you see on him? Is that something that concerns you, or are there other parts to his game that worry you?

Yeah, so basically it is a hand thing that concerns me. They don't always look natural if there is a defender draped on him or a defender nearby. So he looks comfortable extending when he has a ton of separation, and he's shown that he could adjust to behind him, in front of him, low. But otherwise, if he has to adjust and extend out for the ball on a contested catch, it's probably going to be incomplete. And I don't know.

This is something I noted. I'm not sure. It's like a huge issue. But it doesn't look like there's a ton of deceptiveness at the top of his route. He's kind of like a sudden burst guy more than like he's going to head and shoulder fake you. So, yeah, I like Kirk overall. But there are some concerns. Let's look at him now projected into New England's offense.

It seemed like you believed that Richard James would be a perfect fit, an ideal fit. Do you feel the same way about Kirk coming over and running sort of slot-type stuff for the Patriots? Yeah, I do. I think he could definitely fit into New England's offense. He's quick. He's got great speed um and i also think that like you guys i'm pretty sure you're you might be losing beyond lewis he could easily fill in some return team roles for you um right there i think that makes a lot of sense let's get to the third and final guy On the list you put together This is the guy that I'll admit

Most interested in But that's partially because I got to see him up close this fall Up at Penn State When they played Indiana And that's Deshaun Hamilton Who caught a lot of buzz Doubted Mobile

Had a big Senior Bowl week Joe, what are your overall thoughts On Deshaun Hamilton? Yeah, so Deshaun Hamilton, Penn State slot wide receiver, I think personally could play some Z. I'll touch on that a bit in the strengths part of this talk. But, yeah, he was at the Shrine game, got called up for the Senior Bowl after some late scratches,

and he really excelled, especially at the Senior Bowl. He really excelled because especially at the Senior Bowl. He really excelled because throughout the week, I thought he was a top performer. If you read my recap on Inside the Pylon, he was my top performer of the week. I thought he was the best receiver down there. What stands out to you when you watch Hamilton on tape? Because when I sort of studied him,

I thought his ability as a route runner stood out, but that was me. You've watched him more. What were your thoughts? Yeah, but going snap to finish, his release and foot quickness really stand out. So it's very difficult for the cornerbacks trying to jam him or press him to really get their hands on him. So he gets immediate separation out of his release through the stem. And you're right, definitely right about route running.

That's another thing that he really excels at. He could be one of the best route runners in this class. He's quick, sudden, shows very good flexibility, very good ability to throttle down hard brakes. And he's got deceptive movements got deceptive upper body movements, head fakes, very good hip flexibility to flash his head towards the quarterback while he's trying to run the other way. So he's going to manipulate defensive back's hips at the next level

with his route running and his deceptiveness. Watch it, Hamilton. Any weaknesses you've found when you've studied him? Yes. So there's probably a hands issue there. Not probably. I see a little bit of a hands issue. He seems a bit inconsistent, whether it's just hands technique or maybe a concentration issue.

You'll see a lot of times with hamilton and if you watch um his game against wisconsin uh i think it was during the big 10 championship game in 2017 he had a lot of catches but he kind of pins the ball against his his chest pins the ball against his helmet and it's like i wonder if that can really just, like, be consistently done at the NFL level. Now, there are a lot of instances where he shields off the defender and then makes a contested catch. So he does have the ability. It's just whether or not he can consistently make hands catches at the next level.

Overall, though, he might be the best release player, best route running, one of the best route runners, I think. I think he's up there with Calvin Ridley for me, probably. And I think he's going to be a late round two, early round three pick. And in terms of his potential fit in New England, same sort of deal as with the other two guys? You think he could fit well with what the Patriots do on offense? Yeah, definitely.

He has that quickness, that suddenness that New England is looking for. And for the reasons about his release, I actually think he could not only play the slot, but he could probably also play the D, because I think it's going to be very difficult for opposing cornerbacks to really get a jam on him with how quick he is at the line of scrimmage.

He is Joseph Ferriola, wide receiver, scout, and lead writer over at Inside the Pylon. Please follow the relative newbie to Twitter. Please follow him on Twitter at NFL Draft Joey. Please do that. He's a great follow on Twitter.

And as you just heard, fantastic scout in mind, particularly when it comes to the wide receiver positions. Joseph, my friend, thank you so much for coming on, buddy. I appreciate it. Mark, thanks for having me, man. That will do it for this Monday edition of Locked on Patriots. Hope you enjoyed it talking about the wide receiver position,

how it's currently stacked on the New England Patriots in terms of rosters, free agents, and as you just heard from Mr. Ferriola, some potential guys the Patriots might want

to keep an eye on and you might want to keep an eye on for the upcoming draft. I'll be back tomorrow looking at some more positional breakdowns for the Patriots. Until then, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots. All right, brother.