Film Review: When Healthy, Marqise Lee Has Tools to Be Spark Plug for Patriots Offense
The 2020 New England Patriots offense looks to be completely revamped after a busy free agency and draft. They ended up adding two veteran wide receivers in free agency and three other wide receivers after the draft from the UDFA pool. One of the veteran receivers added was Marqise Lee who last played for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Lee is a talented player that has struggled with injuries his entire career. In 2018, Lee tore his ACL, MCL, and PCL and missed the entire season. Then in 2019, Lee was placed on IR midway through the season with a shoulder injury. He signed a one-year deal with the Patriots this offseason and looks to bounce back from these injuries.
The clips that I used for this film review are from Lee's last healthy season back in 2017. Lee ended up having a very solid year that year and the Jaguars ended up making the AFC Championship game. Hopefully Lee can return to this form a year after his devastating knee injury.
For this first play, I wanted to show off what Lee, #11, can do when he has the ball in his hands. This is just an end-around but watch Lee make three would-be tacklers miss to get extra yards. Lee's ability to make people miss is a common theme in his tape and I am going to be highlighting it a lot.
On this play, Lee is lined up at the bottom of the screen and gets a one-on-one match up against the cornerback. Lee runs a go route here but the corner doesn't put hands on him and Lee goes right past him. Lee easily beats this corner on this play but the ball is a bit overthrown and Lee does not finish the catch. You want to see the receiver finish plays like this one, but unfortunately Lee has inconsistent hands.
Lee is at the top of the screen here and the Jags have him run a pivot route. The corner plays off of Lee and that gives him a huge amount of space to work with. Once he gets the ball, he shows off his ability to pick up extra yards. Lee's vision once he has the ball is great and he's able to make people miss and break tackles.
Lee is lined up in the slot at the top of the screen on this play and he runs another pivot route. This time, the corner is playing him on the line of scrimmage instead of playing off coverage. Lee does a great job selling this route as if it's just an in route. The corner initially has outside leverage but once Lee cuts in, the corner bites hard and Lee stops on a dime and cuts towards the sideline. This gets Lee wide open and he's able to get the Jags inside of the five yard line.
Lee is back at the bottom of the screen here and he does a fantastic job at working back to his quarterback and helping him out. When Lee finishes his route, he sees his quarterback, Blake Bortles, scrambling so he starts to work towards him. Receivers do this so that their quarterback has an easier throw. He helps his quarterback and he's able to break multiple tackles to get extra yards.
Lee doesn't get the ball on this play but he gets open and shows off a nice route. Lee, at the top the screen, sees that the corner is watching the quarterback the entire time so he gets behind him. With Lee behind him, the corner turns to him and then Lee finishes his curl creating a lot of separation.
Lee is at his best when he can run routes over the middle of the field. He initially sells this as a vertical route and the corner has to respect his speed. Once Lee gets the corner to believe that he's just going vertical and the corner adjusts to that, Lee cuts inside to get wide open. Unfortunately, the ball isn't placed in the best spot and Lee's inconsistent hands show up again.
Lee is also a red zone threat. Watch him on this play beat this double team the Colts deployed against him. The Jaguars are lined up in a trips formation on the right side of the field. They use Marcedes Lewis as a decoy to get Lee open on this play. Lewis goes vertical and Lee runs a slant right under his route. This creates traffic that the DB covering Lee has to get through and that gives Lee the space he needs. The safety comes down to pick up Lee, but he fakes that he is going to continue to just go across the middle and sticks his inside foot in the ground and cuts up into the end zone. This freezes the safety because once Lee sticks his foot in the ground, the safety comes forward and brings his entire body weight forward. Lee is easily able to go right past him and he finishes a nice catch for the touchdown.
Lee is also a threat on go routes. Now, he doesn't get separation on this play but he's able to adjust to the ball and bring in it. Bortles delivers a nice pass and puts this on Lee's back shoulder. Lee does a great job getting his head around to see where this ball is going to be placed and then adjusts to the placement to get a solid gain.
Another way Lee can do damage is on crossing routes, and he's able to show that off on this play. Lee is in the slot and the first thing that he does is use his outside foot to fake the outside route to make the DB think, and then he goes inside, creating some separation. Then, Lee runs the DB into traffic and makes him choose to either go around the traffic or go through it. The DB chooses to go around it and that gives Lee more than enough space to catch this ball and gain extra yards.
An underappreciated part of a receiver's game is their blocking and on this play Lee shows off his blocking ability. The Jags run a screen for running back Corey Grant to Lee's side. Lee's job is to block Malcolm Butler and clear a way for Grant to burst through and Lee does a great job. Lee is a very capable blocker and he can help spring plays just like this one.
For the final play, I wanted to show off a nice route by Lee. He runs a comeback route here and shakes Malcolm Butler at the top of the route. Lee makes this seem like it will just be a go route, but he does a great job selling it. At around the 20-yard line, Lee looks back to Bortles and this causes Butler to look back too so that he can see where the ball is. Once Butler turns his head, Lee finishes his route and sits down leaving Butler still running down the field. Bortles isn't able to deliver a good ball on this play, but you can see how deceptive Lee can be in his routes.
I'm not sure if we will see 2017 Lee again, but if he does show up in camp, he will have a great shot at making the roster. Lee isn't a number one or a number two receiver at this point in his career. But he can be a very solid fourth or fifth option, and that's exactly what he would be in New England. His inconsistent hands are worrisome, but his route running and ability to break tackles gives him a chance at making the final roster. We will just have to wait and see if he's able to overcome his injuries.
