FOXBORO, Mass. — Malcolm Mitchell is taking his new profession as NFL wide receiver one step at a time. For now, he’s still in the learning process, which in itself is a daunting task with his new employers, the New England Patriots.
Veteran and rookie wide receivers alike have a hard time grasping the Patriots’ complex offense, which relies on extensive studying and quick thinking.
“Right now, I just think about learning,” Mitchell said Wednesday at Gillette Stadium. “That’s my goal. Before you even talk about competing, I have to know what I’m doing. Right now, it’s just all about learning.”
Mitchell played in a pro-style offense during his five seasons at Georgia. That should give him an upper hand over other rookie receivers, coming from simplistic college offenses, who tried and failed to catch on with the Patriots. Mitchell knows he has to put in extra work to try to learn his playbook.
“It’s up to you to study it and learn,” Mitchell said. “Any chance you get, you’ve got to make sure you’re doing that. …
“You meet with the coaches, and they help you as much as possible. But truthfully, it’s up to you. It’s your responsibility to learn everything that needs to be done.”
Mitchell, who wears No. 19 and played “X” receiver at Georgia, answered questions about potentially filling the same starting role manned by Brandon LaFell in 2014 and 2015. As a fourth-round draft pick, Mitchell is a near-lock to make the Patriots’ 53-man roster, but he’d have to beat out Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola or Chris Hogan, plus Keshawn Martin, Nate Washington, Devin Lucien, Aaron Dobson, Chris Harper and DeAndre Carter, for one of three starting roles.
“Right now I’m just trying to learn everything I can,” Mitchell said. “It would be completely crazy of me to think anything like that.”
Patriots coaches seem to teach the rookies that they have to acclimate themselves to the team before even thinking about competing for specific roles or roster spots.
Mitchell has completed rookie minicamp, and he now enters the offseason training program with the rest of the team. The Patriots begin organized team activities May 23, and mandatory minicamp runs from June 7 to 9.
Thumbnail photo via Thumbnail photo via Doug Kyed/NESN
