Do the Patriots have internal answers at receiver?

With the 2023 season in the books, MassLive will look at each position group on the Patriots, analyzing how the team performed in 2023 and where it might be heading in the future. Today we look at wide receivers.

Wide receivers: Kendrick Bourne, JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Demario Douglas, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Reagor, Kayshon Boutte, Tre Nixon, T.J. Luther

Contract situation: It won’t be easy for the Patriots to get out of some of these contracts.

Smith-Schuster will be in the second year of his 3-year contract. He has a cap hit of around $12.266 million this season. Most of that is guaranteed for this season. The Patriots could save over $5 million by trading the receiver. Next year, the team would save $7.5 million by releasing Smith-Schuster as the third year of his contract isn’t guaranteed.

Parker is in the first year of his two-year extension. He has a cap hit of around $6.166 million. The Patriots would not save any money by releasing him before June 1. After that date, the team would clear a little over $3 million but also have $1.13 million in dead money. A trade, after June 1, would save $4.6 million. Parker’s 2025 salary isn’t guaranteed and the team would save $5 million by releasing him.

Their other veteran, Bourne, enters this offseason as an unrestricted free agent.

Thornton is in the third year of his four-year rookie contract. He has a cap hit of $1.923 million in 2024. That goes up to $2.244 million in 2025.

This season marks the second year in the rookie deals for Douglas and Boutte. The cap hit for Douglas is $948,333 while Boutte will account for $961,818 on the team’s salary cap. Their deals aren’t guaranteed.

Luther signed a futures contract that pays him $795,000 next season. Reagor will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Nixon will be an exclusive rights free agent.

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2023 review: Honestly, it wasn’t good.

The Patriots receiver room was inadequate in 2023. Douglas led the team in receiving with 561 yards. Running back Ezekiel Elliott led the team in receptions with 51. Tight end Hunter Henry led the Patriots with six receiving touchdowns.

That tells the story.

Douglas became the most productive rookie receiver in the Bill Belichick era after finishing with 49 catches and 561 yards. Other than the rookie, it was a disappointing year for Patriots receivers.

The other part of the group’s downfall was that the Patriots quarterback situation, with Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, wasn’t close to ideal. The team also lost their most talented receiver when Kendrick Bourne suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 8. Bourne caught 37 passes and finished third on the Patriots in receiving (406 yards) and second in touchdowns (four).

Part of this group’s problem was that the Patriots let Jakobi Meyers go and replaced him with Smith-Schuster. Coming off a knee injury, however, Smith-Schuster didn’t look the same and his production was the worst in his career. He finished with 29 catches, 260 yards and one touchdown.

The Patriots flirted with DeAndre Hopkins in the summer, but he signed with Tennessee. The team ended up extending Parker. He caught 33 passes for 394 yards and no touchdowns.

Thornton’s numbers dropped after an underwhelming rookie year. He caught 13 passes for 91 yards. Reagor pitched in with even catches for 138 yards.

The future: The Patriots are in a tough spot here.

They have one solid prospect in Douglas, who looks like a very promising slot receiver. Their other productive receiver, Bourne, is a free agent. Their two highest-paid receivers, Smith-Schuster and Parker, have contracts that aren’t easy to get out of.

One of the Patriots biggest needs this offseason is to find a capable No. 1 receiver. They need a player who’s a Pro Bowl-level talent and someone other teams have to game plan for. They currently don’t have that on the roster and those players are very costly to attain.

That brings us to free agency. There are a handful of capable No. 1 receivers in need of new contracts – Tee Higgins (Cincinnati), Michael Pittman (Indianapolis), Mike Evans (Tampa Bay) and Calvin Ridley (Jacksonville).

Higgins is coming off an injury-plagued season, but the 25-year-old projects as the top available receiver in free agency. Some expect the Bengals to place the franchise tag on him. Pittman, 26, is the next best, but the Colts will likely prioritize him to help their young quarterback, Anthony Richardson. Evans, 30, and Ridley, 29, are older, but both would help whoever the Patriots have under center next year.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Patriots go ‘all-in’ on one of these veterans and then add another receiver in the draft.

Part 1: Patriots quarterbacks review