The Patriots huge receiver corps may look lots completely different in 2024.
New England signed Okay.J. Osborn in free company, drafted Ja’Lynn Polk (No. 37) and Javon Baker (No. 110) within the 2024 NFL Draft and misplaced DeVante Parker, who introduced his retirement this offseason,
The inflow of younger expertise has left Professional Bowl huge receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster’s future with the group up within the air, however he revealed that is not a brand new feeling.
“I really feel like each coaching camp I’ve one thing to show,” Smith-Schuster said by way of Ben Volin of the Boston Globe. “That is a part of my nature, a part of my recreation.”
It does not assist that the 27-year-old is coming off a disappointing season during which he registered simply 29 catches for 260 yards and one landing in 11 video games.
That is not the manufacturing the Patriots had been probably hoping to see after signing him to a three-year, $25.5 million contract final offseason.
Smith-Schuster is aware of that and is able to show himself once more as a dependable move catcher within the league.
“It is at all times been in me, that canine, that competitiveness,” Smith-Schuster added. “I have been in plenty of conditions the place I have been making these laborious catches and with the ability to convert and transfer the sticks. For certain, bought that canine in me, for certain.”
New England additionally has a brand new regime taking up, led by head coach Jerod Mayo. A shift in management usually leads to plenty of change, and Smith-Schuster hopes he is not part of that in a crowded huge receiver room.
“I might say that the competitors degree could be very, very excessive,” Smith-Schuster completed. “I really feel like for myself, it is one thing that popping out right here and bought to show to compete with these guys.”
Smith-Schuster has a $7 million assured wage in 2024, so if the battle is shut, the Patriots might decide to present him one other likelihood, but when it is not, they could minimize their losses with him.
The previous second-round choose (No. 62) by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2017 has 430 catches for five,048 yards and 30 touchdowns in his seven-year NFL profession.