Inside The Huskies

Polk Returns to Scene of One of His Greatest Football Moments

The former Husky receiver takes his NFL career to New Orleans, where he was a Sugar Bowl standout.
Dan Raley|
Husky wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk (2) was off and running against Texas in New Orleans in the 2024 CFP semifinals.
Husky wide receiver Ja'Lynn Polk (2) was off and running against Texas in New Orleans in the 2024 CFP semifinals. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

For those who haven't forgotten the 2024 College Football Playoff semifinals, Ja'Lynn Polk was at his football best in a game in New Orleans that doubled as the Sugar Bowl.

Twenty-one months ago in the Superdome, the 6-foot-1, 203-pound wide receiver for the University of Washington hauled in a Michael Penix Jr. pass on the Huskies' third offensive snap, made a clever cut that enabled him to lose two Texas defenders and raced 77 yards to the Longhorns 2 before somebody finally caught up to him.

Polk set the tone that day in Louisiana and caught 5 passes for 122 yards in helping the Huskies secure a thrilling 37-31 victory.

Well, the one-time UW pass-catcher is headed back to Bourbon Street, where his postseason play was so intoxicating.

Multiple outlets, among them Jordan Schultz of the Schultz Report, revealed on Saturday that Polk has been traded by the New England Patriots to the New Orleans Saints, with the teams swapping seventh- and sixth-round draft picks in the process.

For Polk, it's a strange time to change teams, indeed, considering he's out for the season with a shoulder injury suffered in training camp and he won't be of immediate help to anyone for quite some time.

Yet getting hurt coming out of the gate is nothing new to the native of Lufkin, Texas, who transferred to the UW from Texas Tech four years ago and met with immediate misfortune.

Ja'Lynn Polk shows the disappointment of a CFP loss to Michigan.
Ja'Lynn Polk shows the disappointment of a CFP loss to Michigan. | Skylar Lin Visuals

On the first play of his Husky career, Polk caught a 13-yard pass over the middle from Dylan Morris against Montana in the 2021 opener, took a crunching hit and suffered a fractured collarbone.

He missed the next nine games before he was cleared to return at the end of the season. It was hard to tell which was more painful that day -- his injury or the embarrassing 13-7 loss to the FCS team at Husky Stadium.

A second-round draft pick for the Patriots, Polk had modest stats last year during his rookie NFL season of 12 receptions for 87 yards and 2 touchdowns.

He was looking to reassert himself this season before the injury bug hit him again. His comeback might be better suited for New Orleans anyway, a place that celebrated him not so long ago.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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