Should Patriots trade for top-end wide receiver before 2024 NFL Draft?

Should Patriots trade for top-end wide receiver before 2024 NFL Draft? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

NFL free agency is more than a week old and the New England Patriots still haven’t added a top-end wide receiver to their offense.

Sure, they did re-sign Kendrick Bourne and added K.J. Osborn, but the lack of a true No. 1 wideout is still a problem for a team that ranked dead last with 13.9 points scored per game last season.

With so few good options left at wide receiver on the free agent market, acquiring an impact player via trade now makes the most sense for New England.

But doing so could come at a huge cost. If the Patriots wanted to pursue a player like Tee Higgins or Brandon Aiyuk, it might cost them at least the No. 34 overall pick (second round) in the 2024 NFL Draft. And not only that, paying this player an extension would be pretty expensive, too.

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On the latest episode of NBC Sports Boston’s Patriots Talk Podcast, Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry debated whether the Patriots should trade for a high-end wide receiver.

“I would not trade for a top-end wideout,” Curran said. “Because if I was a top-end wideout, I wouldn’t want to re-sign here — Tee Higgins, Brandon Aiyuk — though I might be somewhat forced to re-sign or negotiate an extension because I realize the team is going to be so bad statistically in 2024 that they’re going to drive my market down.

“I’m going to go from being a really good 90-catch guy for 1,400 yards to a 60-catch guy for 931 yards. So I’m not going to have the same value. So it’s a shotgun wedding that you’re going to have to pay a guy a bounty in — pay him like he’s still a top 10 receiver. And you have to give up a draft pick for him. So I wouldn’t trade for a top-end wideout.”

Perry is a bit torn, primarily because the Patriots still have a ton of salary cap…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/patriots-trade-top-end-wide-220636251.html

Author : NBC Sports Boston

Publish date : 2024-03-21 22:30:12

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