The New England Patriots should not stop with receiver DeVante Parker. They should keep adding more talent at the position.
OK, maybe they should stop adding veterans at the wideout position, where they’re already spending the third most money in the NFL for 2022. But when the NFL draft rolls around, Bill Belichick and New England should absolutely consider adding a receiver or two. Rookie contracts, after all, are extremely cheap.
Not only do the Patriots still lack a true No. 1 receiver — with Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor — but they also have an uncertain future at the position, with Meyers and Agholor set to enter free agency in 2023. That would leave just Parker and Bourne.
Here’s what NBC Sports’ Peter King wrote in his weekly column after the trade:
“I think it’s good to see the Patriots add a needed receiver, dealing a 2023 third-round pick to Miami for DeVante Parker and a fifth-round pick Saturday. But they’re still third in the division, behind Miami and Buffalo, in wideout weapons (Parker, Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor, N’Keal Harry). Picking 21st and 54th in the draft, I doubt New England’s out of the receiver business.”
That makes sense to me. I had the exact same thought in my takeaways following the Parker trade. The deal might encourage the Patriots to take a risk on a high-upside receiver who could either be slow to develop (like Skyy Moore or Christian Watson) or inhibited by injury (like Jameson Williams and John Metchie).
