NASHVILLE, Tenn. — After being penalized twice in only nine snaps during Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans, Ja’Lynn Polk jogged to the sideline and stood alone.
The New England Patriots had wanted to get him more involved, to try to jump-start his production and boost his confidence in what has been a trying rookie season. So despite a quiet first half, they inserted him back into the rotation to start the second. But on the opening drive of the third quarter, Polk was moving while the ball was snapped, another flag on a 22-year-old who can’t seem to do anything right.
The Patriots drafted Polk in the second round (pick No. 37) in April. Eliot Wolf and the front office hoped he’d make for a steady, safe target for Drake Maye for years to come. They would be two of the players New England would build around on offense.
But halfway through their rookie season, the two are headed in opposite directions. Maye has looked like everything the Patriots hoped he would be and offers optimism for what the future could look like once he’s surrounded by better talent. Polk has been so bad that even though we’re only entering Week 10 and we’re still incredibly early in his career, it already feels like he’s heading toward bust territory.
That’s because wide receiver is generally a position where youngsters can produce quickly in the NFL — and one where early production is generally indicative of long-term success. It’s not a position, like many others, where players can often take several years to develop before breaking out.
And the early returns from Polk? They rank him as the league’s worst wide receiver. Among 128 wide receivers with at least 10 targets, Polk is 128th in Pro Football Focus’ rankings, 128th in yards after the catch per reception, 127th in yards per route run and 126th (out of 126 receivers) at separation when targeted, per Next Gen Stats.
Updating our chart on WR separation on all routes and post throw grade (Catchpoint+YAC).
Had to include 2 charts b/c of how much of an outlier Polk is pic.twitter.com/YdDCEEaSTE
— Jrfortgang (@throwthedamball) October 29, 2024
He has 10 catches on 27 targets for 78 yards. Among rookie wide receivers, Polk ranks 19th in receiving yards despite getting the 10th-most targets.
At this point, the Patriots’ best hope for Polk is that he’s just a victim of a terrible situation. Perhaps if the Patriots had a better offensive line and a different scheme, he’d be better — which seems awfully troubling if that’s your best-case scenario.
That scenario might be more believable if Polk had started playing better once Maye was inserted into the lineup. But his production has actually dipped since Maye became the starter. In three games with Maye, Polk has one catch for 4 yards despite being targeted eight times.
Still, Maye said he’d take it upon himself to get Polk up to speed.
“Pump him up,” Maye said several weeks ago of what he’d do to help Polk. “That’s the biggest thing you can do — especially a guy coming in the same (draft) class. … We built a connection early during camp, and during summer I felt like we had it going. … It’s just building the camaraderie, and I think we’re going to get there. I don’t think it’s a matter of ‘if,’ I think it’s a matter of ‘when.’”
Everyone knew the Patriots wanted to draft a wide receiver after picking Maye, especially since the 2024 class of receivers was considered one of the best in recent years, both filled with high-end talent and deep in the later rounds. But there was a run on receivers just before the Patriots were on the clock in the second round as five were taken over a seven-pick span.
New England tried to trade up for Xavier Legette, but the Carolina Panthers made a deal to grab him with the 32nd pick. After the Buffalo Bills took Keon Coleman with the 33rd pick, the Patriots could’ve chosen Ladd McConkey but instead traded back three spots and selected Polk at No. 37.
The other rookie wideouts are producing just fine. Legette, the only receiver who could argue he’s in a worse situation than Polk (stuck on a bad team without a quarterback as promising as Maye), has 26 catches for 244 yards and four touchdowns. Coleman has 22 receptions for 417 yards. McConkey, whom the Pats passed on, has 35 grabs for 440 yards.
Of course, not all good wide receivers had great production early on. When Wolf was the Green Bay Packers’ director of pro personnel, the team picked Davante Adams in the second round (No. 53 overall in 2014). Adams is the oft-cited example of a highly drafted wide receiver needing a few years to develop before his production takes off. But even his “disappointing” rookie season far outpaced what Polk has done. Through Adams’ first eight games as a rookie, he had 24 catches for 263 yards, more than three times Polk’s yardage total so far.
Unless Polk or fellow rookie Javon Baker has a drastic turnaround in the second half, wide receiver will join the offensive line as the Patriots’ top two priorities of the offseason, likely leaving them forced to draft another in the first two rounds.
But in the short term, what can the Patriots do with Polk? Do you play him as much as possible, hoping more playing time gets him out of this funk and helps him develop into a better player even if he’s not currently one of your best options at the position? Or do you stick him on the bench, hopeful he’s able to clear his head, learn how to be a pro and improve as the season goes on?
The Patriots seem like they’d prefer the first option. They wanted him to play more in Tennessee. But over his nine snaps, he was whistled for a holding penalty and an illegal shift, and his lone target was Maye’s first interception (which was a bad pass). Even if it seems best in the long term to get Polk as many snaps as possible to get him accustomed to the pro game, if that’s the result of his playing time, it’ll be hard to justify.
None of this is meant to write off Polk. He’s 22. He’s played in only eight games. But he also plays a position that tends to yield early verdicts about a player. And so far, the results have him looking more like a bust than the stud the Pats thought they’d drafted.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Free, daily NFL updates direct to your inbox.
Sign Up
(Photo: Neville E. Guard / Imagn Images)
