Right now from the receivers stand point, the only proven field stretcher is Nelson Agholor. Bourne and Meyers who are the other two of the Patriots top three receivers are primarily crossing route guys. The tight ends are going to be the Patriots vertical threat, while not explosive they'll win with their size.
Now with the Patriots only having three so called proven receivers, fans are saying they need a true number one deep guy. They wanted Julio Jones and they still want OBJ. Which would push the other three guys down the depth chart. Hell, there's probably still a portion of them that still want Dez Bryant.
The Patriots might have their number four already on the roster and if so, he's not a vertical threat. Last season, this player had a hell of a training camp only to get buried on the depth chart. He continued it with an improved spring. Now you might ask if he was so good, why didn't this mystery man get playing time. To answer that, I say look how long it too Meyers, who was also buried on the depth chart to see the field.
However, when the guy did get on the field, even though he was getting open, he wasn't being targeted. Then again, majority of the time If a pass catcher was open, they weren't targeted or had a poorly placed ball thrown in their general vicinity.
That player is former D2 defensive back turned slot receiver Gunner Olszewski. Yes, Gunner is the teams all pro punt returner but he has shown skills in camp to be a decent slot receiver if given the opportunity and is a roster lock as either the fourth or fifth receiver at the moment.
In his two season with the Patriots, he's been targeted 9 times catching 7 balls, for 96 yards and a touchdown. He also has gadget play ability, running it 5 times for 23 yards. If he had played with a quarterback who was quicker going through or that knew his progressions, Gunner may have had a more productive 2020. Gunner had played in over 13% of the offense snaps over his career.
Gunner's 2.0 target separation was better than both DeAndre Hopkins who was ranked 30th and Edelman who was ranked 79th in 2020.
Gunners cushion was also better than both Edelman's 87th, Meyers 91st ranking and barely behind Damiere Byrd's 71st ranking.
With a quarterback like Mac Jones, Gunner has the ability to shine. In fact all the guys competing for that number five spot on the depth chart have a chance to shine with Mac Jones due to their playstyle. The same is not true for the other quarterbacks on the roster.
So again, why do fans want the Patriots to bring in vertical guys when that's not how Jones is going to make his bread and butter, especially when knowing that majority of scouting reports listed deep ball as a red flag for Jones? There is an answer. That answer is Cam Newton.
Many fans have not excepted that Cam Newton is not going to be the future. They want Mac Jones to fail or get traded away, while Newton gets extended longterm. These fans want the Patriots to get rid of their "Brady" offense for a more modern one. They want a high risk high reward offense that revolves around Cam Newton or Jameis Winston.
They don't want intelligent game managing conservative offense where guys like Tom Brady, Chad Pennington, and others have excelled. The prefer an offense predicated on 50/50 balls and forcing passes into closed windows by quarterbacks who are better runners than accurate passers. They want the quarterback to play school yard 500 and just throw the ball up and let whoever can get it, come down with it. Regardless if there's a high probability of a turnover.
That's why they're calling for vertical receivers. They want an end to the Belichick-Brady era once and for all, not see a version 2.0 with Mac Jones. It's a good thing Belichick only answers to Robert Kraft because if he listened to these fans, the Patriots could easily find themselves worse off that the pre Bledsoe era Patriots. Although I'd still stand bye the Patriots, which is more than I can say for majority of them.
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