The New England Patriots planned to acquire a wide receiver sooner than the No. 37 pick but plans fell through.
ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported that the Patriots offered a trade with the Buffalo Bills for the No. 32 pick in the first round. Reiss reported that the Patriots wanted former Florida State wide receiver Keon Coleman or former South Carolina wideout Xavier Legette.
Instead, the Bills traded the pick to the Carolina Panthers, which selected Legette with that pick. The Bills then took Coleman with the No. 33 pick in the second round on April 26.
It left the Patriots with former Washington wideout Ja’Lynn Polk with the No. 37 pick on April 27. The Patriots needed to improve the wide receiver room after a subpar passing game in 2023, and Polk could make a difference though he wasn’t ranked as high as Legette or Coleman.
The moment Peezy became a Pat 🥹@jpolk_22 | #NEPats pic.twitter.com/Nuq9zecXFB
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 27, 2024
“Man, they’re getting a beast. A dude that loves football, loves his teammates,” Polk told reporters on April 27. “I’m ready to build, be able to bring a great player and a very electric person, and go on and win games.”
Polk had the best season of his college career last year with 69 receptions for 1,159 yards and nine touchdowns with the Huskies. He improved on his 2022 season where he had 41 catches for 694 yards and six touchdowns.
Ja’Lynn Polk Developed 1 Patriots Connection at Washington
During his time at Washington, Polk made a connection with the Patriots through former Huskies receivers coach Junior Adams. Now the offensive coordinator at Oregon, Adams had previously worked with Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne at Eastern Washington in 2013. Bourne did a Zoom call with Adams and the Huskies receivers at least once, Polk said.
“He came in there and gave us some advice on how to work hard, continuously build on your craft and get better each and every day,” Polk said. “So, I can’t wait to go out there with him, JuJu [Smith-Schuster] and those other guys to pick at their game. I see the success that they’ve been able to have, so we can go out there and have success all together. So, I’m super excited and ready to go out there and make plays with those guys.”
Ja’Lynn Polk Excited to Work With Drake Maye
Ja'Lynn Polk hauled in all 11 of his catchable deep targets last season, showing the ability to manipulate defenders off the line/in his stem, keep himself clean, and finish through contact pic.twitter.com/lrtV03rPli
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) April 28, 2024
Polk also expressed his excitement about playing with Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, the No. 3 pick in the draft on April 25. Maye thrived at North Carolina amid 8,018 yards passing for 63 touchdowns versus 16 interceptions in 20 college games.
“The guy’s electric. He goes out there and he’s able to make plays for his team,” Polk said. “He’s a great guy, an awesome player, man. I haven’t had an opportunity throughout this process to see a lot of his plays that he’s been able to put up for his team. And, I’m excited to be able to get to work with him.”
Polk, who averaged 15.6 yards per reception for his college career, could help the Patriots stretch the field. He sees his skillset working well with Maye’s strengths on deep throws.
“You know, my mindset is just be different,” Polk said. “A lot of guys have put in a lot of work, so in order to separate yourself, you’ve got to find a way that you can be different within yourself.”
“So, challenging myself, finding my weaknesses, the things that I need to work on to be able to excel in my game and separate myself from the best,” Polk added. “So, just continuously have that high standard mindset of wanting to be better each and every day, pushing the guys around me and being a leader.”
“So, I think what I bring to the table and feeding off the other guys as well is what’s going to make us true to our game and capable of the things that we’re going to be able to do outside on the field,” Polk concluded.
