Patriots Mac Jones Loves New WR: ‘Football Nerd’
In an AFC East division that features Stefon Diggs (Bills), Tyreek Hill-Jaylen Waddle (Dolphins) and Garrett Wilson (Jets), wide receiver talent remains a glaring issue for the New England Patriots. It's something quarterback Mac Jones will have to overcome in his third NFL season.
While Jakobi Meyers and Nelson Agholor departed in free agency, Bill Belichick and the Patriots did ink veteran wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster to a three-year, $25.5 million deal this offseason in an attempt to bolster the position. Jones acknowledged this week that he and Smitch-Schuster - despite the receiver missing some of OTAs - are already developing a strong chemistry.
“I think JuJu’s done a great job, also from a leadership standpoint,” Jones said earlier this week, according to NESN. “He just came off of a Super Bowl team, so what a great value to our offense. Obviously, when he gets on the field, that’s going to be great because he has the experience and he loves talking about football.
“He’s just a football nerd, I guess, kind of like me. We kind of hit it off in that regard."
Still only 26, Smith-Schuster will probably never top his 2018 season, where he had 111 catches for 1,426 yards while playing in the same Pittsburgh Steelers offense that included Antonio Brown. But Smith-Schuster was still pretty productive for the Kansas City Chiefs a year ago, hauling in 78 passes for 933 yards on a team that won the Super Bowl.
As we noted earlier this week, Jones will also have an impressive tight end duo of Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki at his disposal, and Bill O'Brien is back as the offensive coordinator. New England still almost certainly has the least offensive talent of the four AFC East teams, but they project to be better than the underwhelming unit from a season ago.
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