Bill Belichick always has been the Patriots’ head coach and general manager. Unlike his NFL contemporaries, he’s in charge of both coaching New England’s players and assembling its roster.
One of his most prominent former players believes he needs help with the latter.
A day after the Patriots were throttled by the New Orleans Saints 34-0 at Gillette Stadium, retired wide receiver Julian Edelman took Belichick to task for his failure to find quality talent at the offensive skill positions.
“I think he needs a little help on the offensive side,” Edelman said on FOX Sports’ “The Herd With Colin Cowherd.” “You look at the defensive picks, they all look pretty good. They always come out and they perform. The Christian Gonzalez kid, before he got hurt, looked like he was playing good.
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“But we have whiffed — and I hate talking about Coach like this — but we have whiffed on a lot of offensive skill-position players. I won’t call guys out, but there were three, four receivers when I was playing that we got in top rounds that (didn’t pan out).”
During Edelman’s Patriots tenure, New England used picks in the first three rounds on wideouts Brandon Tate, Taylor Price, Aaron Dobson and N’Keal Harry, all of whom were cut before the end of their respective rookie contracts.
“You look in camp, and you can always see from a guy that’s drafted high,” Edelman said. “You see one trait. You know they’re raw, but you could see one trait. ‘Yep, that’s a first-rounder.’ You’re looking, and you’re like, ‘Ehh, what’s going on here? That’s not a first-rounder. I don’t know what’s going on.’ “
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The Patriots also drafted Tyquan Thornton in the second round in 2022, and so far, he has more stints on injured reserve (two) than 50-plus-yard games (one). New England hasn’t invested much draft capital in tight ends since hitting the jackpot with Rob Gronkowski in 2010, but the two they did take with early-round picks both flopped (Devin Asiasi and Dalton Keene).
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With no established homegrown talent, the Patriots built their current receiving corps by signing and trading for a handful of mid-level veterans: JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker and Kendrick Bourne. Sixth-round rookie Demario Douglas has been one of their few offensive bright spots this season, but he hasn’t seen much playing time and now is recovering from a head injury.
Edelman said he’s “still a little shook” by Belichick’s decision to let Jakobi Meyers walk in free agency and replace him with Smith-Schuster. Meyers took over for Edelman as New England’s No. 1 receiver and held that title for three seasons, and Smith-Schuster hasn’t come close to matching his reliability or production.
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“I think he would be the first to tell you that he’s had some screw-ups,” Edelman said of Belichick. “He’s a very accountable guy. And I do think that they probably do need a little more help on the offensive side of scouting, or something.”
The Patriots’ offense as a whole ranks at or near the bottom of the NFL in nearly every metric. No team has scored fewer points per game this season, and New England was outscored 72-3 over the last two weeks.
Featured image via Eric Canha/USA TODAY Sports Images
