FOXBORO — It’s a make-or-break offseason for Patriots young wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and wide receivers coach Todd Downing all talked this week about the 2024 NFL Draft picks receiving a “clean slate” with a new coaching regime in New England. And that can go one of two ways for Polk and Baker.
With last year’s coaches off the staff, Polk and Baker’s disappointing rookie campaigns can be forgotten. Polk managed just 12 catches for 87 yards with two touchdowns in 15 games with seven starts after being selected in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. And Baker, a 2024 fourth-round pick, caught just one pass for 12 yards in 11 games with one start.
But the current staff also has no ties to Polk and Baker. Those picks are not on Vrabel’s draft resume. So, there also might be less hesitation to cut bait with a player taken under Jerod Mayo’s regime, even with Eliot Wolf still in his role as executive vice president of player personnel.
“I didn’t do a whole lot of investigating about what went wrong,” Vrabel said of Polk and Baker’s rookie seasons earlier this week at the NFL Annual Meeting. “I’m trying to focus on what’s going to go right. And so I know that Ja’Lynn is working hard. He’s excited about being a new dad. He’s working hard to rehab that shoulder, focusing on, and again, he said this, not me, but this is something I’ll always say, is he’s focused on what he can do as opposed to what he can’t do. So he’s lifted hard. He’s lifting his lower body hard. He wants to get stronger and where he can make gains right now, about strength is in his lower body, because he’s rehabbing his shoulder. So that’s exciting to me.
“Javon, I’ve been communicating with and again, I’m excited to get these guys back whenever they come back, and get going, like we’re going to evaluate them going forward, not anything that happened. And if there’s things that we can try to eliminate from last year, we’ve had those conversations and whatever their frustrations were, or whatever things that did or didn’t happen, we’re moving forward with what we see in them and the excitement that they have. And so the more excited they are about learning, we’ll be just as excited about teaching them.”
Polk and Baker had their chances to contribute last season, but Kayshon Boutte, DeMario Douglas and Kendrick Bourne all received more offensive snaps than Polk last season. K.J. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton both saw more playing time than Baker.
McDaniels echoed Vrabel’s message by saying that he’s going to refrain from making assessments on players until he’s able to coach them. That will begin April 7, when the offseason workout program beings.
“You’re running drills and running things offensively, and then you have an opportunity to correct things, see if they can fix it, make the corrections and get better,” McDaniels said Thursday. “So, we have some young players that certainly have a lot of ability, and we have some guys that have some experience, some of which I have a little experience with. KB [Kendrick Bourne], Mack [Hollins], some of those guys. I’m starting to get to know some of these other guys that are trickling in here now, and I’m super excited to work with all of them, I really am.
“Stef [Stefon Diggs] is a unique individual, a unique player. He’s got a really good skill set; he’s been a very productive player for a long time. I’m excited about his addition. My brother had an opportunity to coach him last year in Houston, so I have a little bit of insight into what he’s like day to day, and I’m really excited about having him here.”
Diggs and Hollins appear to be shoo-ins to make the roster. That probably leaves four or five spots for Baker, Bourne, Boutte, Douglas, Polk, JaQuae Jackson, John Jiles and any other wide receivers the Patriots add in free agency, the draft or trades this offseason. So, there could be an odd-man out among Baker, Bourne, Boutte, Douglas and Polk.
Downing, whose coaching wide receivers for the first time in his coaching career, said working with a group of young wide receivers is a reason he was excited to accept the job.
“There’s a lot of talent and young talent in that room, and I think that fresh start mentality … gives everybody a chance to kind of say, ‘I’m going to bring my skill set and see where I can develop it.’ And we talk a lot as a staff, and I’ll talk to the players when they’re back, they’re going to get out of it what they put into it,” Downing said. “And so if they bring their skill set and don’t put very much work into it, that skill set probably won’t show up very much, but if they work hard, if they’re diligent about trying to learn the system, if they’re selfless and they work to be good teammates, I think good things will happen for those guys.”
Downing, a long-time quarterback and tight ends coach who also has experience as an offensive coordinator and play-caller, said he saw “flashes of ability” out of Polk and Baker last season.
“I think as long as the character and the approach to this offseason matches that fresh start mentality, I think they’ve got the tools to be able to do some things and show out as NFL wide receivers,” Downing said.
Downing also said that he sees a “hunger” in Boutte and Douglas to take the next step this season.
Polk and Baker were higher picks, but Boutte and Douglas, both sixth-round selections in 2023, produced much more heavily in 2024. Douglas led Patriots receivers with 66 catches for 621 yards with three touchdowns. Boutte had a breakout second-year campaign with 43 catches for 589 yards with three touchdowns and serves as proof that it’s too early to write off Polk and Baker. Boutte caught just two passes for 19 yards in his rookie season.
Vrabel, McDaniels and Downing can push Polk and Baker to see a similar second-year leap, but they also have to come into the season with the right mindset.