DRAFT 2024 2nd Round Pick - WR Ja'Lynn Polk

I was wondering which WashU receiver the Pats were gonna pick since the Pats' new WR coach was WashU's Quality Control on Offense. In the WR BGC Draft thread, he (with Mcmillan and Odunze) was in my very short list of WR prospects who ran faster than 11sec in the 100m in HS (10.89 nw), which is fast. Back then I would've been happy with him in the 2nd or 3rd. That hadn't really changed, but I got too attached in the last 20 hours to McConkey and AMitchell and got turned off by Polk's measurables. You know how I thought after a game last year that Nacua might be the real deal despite a 4.57? He ran an 11.01 100m into a 2.1 headwind in HS which is equivalent to 10.86 nw. It's why it was no surprise that Nacua got up to 21.05mph last year.

I am surprised, however, to find that the fastest Polk's been supposedly recorded in college was 20.2mph, which is okay. I feel like he's way faster than that. Gonna have to make my own measurements from video. Will be curious to see what the NextGenStats equipment will record him at.

4.8% drop rate - better than all the top names except Thomas Jr and Adonai
9.75" hands - After watching back breaking drops last year in a season with 8 one score losses, I hope his hands stay true.

My hope is that he breaks the curse of injured/broken WRs drafted in the 1st 4 rounds in the last 25 years. 1st play for WashU in 2021 resulted in a season ending shoulder injury. He's been healthy since then.

As far as actual football ability? Yeah I'm gonna leave that to people who know what they're talking about.

203Pat said:

Don’t like this pick. Really don’t like it with AD Mitchell still on the board. Polk just seems like a 50/50 plodder N’Keal Harry type.

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I like Polk that's all you need to know.

TommyD4207 said:

He's not a Harry type. He's a Kendrick Bourne/Juju type.

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Doesn’t make me feel much better.

Uptown said:

No sh#t…Folks just love to complain..

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It’s getting insufferable in here tonight.

The moment we don’t take the absolute BPA on the draft boards we throw a ***** fit.

Slot/Z depending on what defenders a defense has. I don't see him as a X definitely not rn. Maybe in the future but he's a natural hybrid you want to keep off the line.

Natural tracker of the ball with impressive focus, concentration and plus ability to adjust and extend for the ball.

He was the "dog" of the group at UW. Coaches absolutely loved him and raved about his toughness and competitiveness.

Plus stalk blocker and blocker overall. Love his fight there.

Plus option against trail, off-coverage. He absolutely can separate and stack but has trouble against press/physical corners. Does use his hands on the line and to help at his stem. Can accelerate needs to trust his speed more getting on top of man.

Can catch through contact, take a hit no problem. Shields himself well on contested catches. Can high point and adjust to an off pass.

Should be a option right away on fades from the slot and boundary, comebacks from boundary, quick outs to flat, flanker/slot, WR3 against a Saf/LB.

Needs to work to expand his release package and ability to utilize his speed better off his stem. Physical corners will impede him. Match him up and move him around. He's got the ability to do damage inside and outside (almost 60% outside/40 inside) Expand that release package and utilize that speed better off the line or really improve on one and he's an every down option.

I had a high 3rd on him. So the value isn't great but it's not really that far off either. I liked him at the top of the third and we liked him at the top of 2nd.

Polk is a dog that responds to coaching. I thought either him or McMillan were 100% getting drafted here. I think he works out. Hopefully develops into a reliable WR2. I see a low-end WR2 at his ceiling but more of a very dangerous WR3 bc of his starter qualities. He just doesn't have it all but has enough to make a very positive impact. I would have went somewhere else but he was on the ptp for a reason. I think he fits here well.

Uptown said:

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lol of course, he would have been there at 68.

TommyD4207 said:

lol of course, he would have been there at 68.

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Nope. Teams were lurking up in the 30s..try again..

Polk was not a reach. 2nd round player who went in the second round. Good pick.

And if Mitchell really is a head case, hard pass.

Character matters when you are putting a team together. How much winning means to players, and filling the roster with players that hate losing, and will leave it all out there to win matters. Brady demonstrated this better than any player in history. He wasn’t the most talented QB, but he hated to lose like nothing else, and he worked his ass off throughout his entire career to be the best player he could be, and made it clear to every player out there with him that winning was all that mattered.

I was hoping for Adonai Mitchell, but it became clear after round 1 that teams had an issue with him, and the reports were that his interviews went badly, and that he seemed disinterested in the process. So as much as I wanted his talent I really don’t want any players that really don’t care. Polk isn’t as athletically gifted as Mitchell, but every report is that he’s a fighter who will give it everything, and those are the kind of players you want on your team.

Ivan said:

Character matters when you are putting a team together. How much winning means to players, and filling the roster with players that hate losing, and will leave it all out there to win matters. Brady demonstrated this better than any player in history. He wasn’t the most talented QB, but he hated to lose like nothing else, and he worked his ass off throughout his entire career to be the best player he could be, and made it clear to every player out there with him that winning was all that mattered.

I was hoping for Adonai Mitchell, but it became clear after round 1 that teams had an issue with him, and the reports were that his interviews went badly, and that he seemed disinterested in the process. So as much as I wanted his talent I really don’t want any players that really don’t care. Polk isn’t as athletically gifted as Mitchell, but every report is that he’s a fighter who will give it everything, and those are the kind of players you want on your team.

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You're not wrong. There's something to be said for having quality guys who will leave it all on the field.

However.

If you don't have high-end talent, you can have all the good character guys you want, and you'll still go 6-11. The Patriots have no high-end talent on offense, and after this draft, I'm not sure they still don't, but we'll find all that out this summer.

TommyD4207 said:

You're not wrong. There's something to be said for having quality guys who will leave it all on the field.

However.

If you don't have high-end talent, you can have all the good character guys you want, and you'll still go 6-11. The Patriots have no high-end talent on offense, and after this draft, I'm not sure they still don't, but we'll find all that out this summer.

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Thing is while Mitchell is talented he’s not a super elite prospect anyhow.

TommyD4207 said:

You're not wrong. There's something to be said for having quality guys who will leave it all on the field.

However.

If you don't have high-end talent, you can have all the good character guys you want, and you'll still go 6-11. The Patriots have no high-end talent on offense, and after this draft, I'm not sure they still don't, but we'll find all that out this summer.

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I agree with this completely, and finding that combination of talent and desire in players is critical, but if you are looking at a tier of players at a position I always want the one’s that have as much Steve Smith Sr. in them as possible.

In this instance the athletic gap between Polk and Mitchell was pretty significant, but many times we are talking about what amounts to fraction of seconds, and a smarter more driven player can offset those fractions by seeing and reacting faster, and are effectively better players despite being 3 hundredths of a second slower on a track. Teddy Bruschi was one of the best examples of this. as his foot speed, and jumping ability weren’t close to most players at his position, but his read and react times were much quicker, so he was ahead of the play before it even developed.

The bottom line is that I agree that athletic abilities really matter, but you still have to make sure they have the desire to ball out on Sunday’s.

TommyD4207 said:

lol of course, he would have been there at 68.

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if the pats felt the same they would’ve taken him at 68. They didn’t.

Uptown said:

No sh#t…Folks just love to complain..

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They should all change their name
Karen1, Karen2, Karen3

TommyD4207 said:

lol of course, he would have been there at 68.

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Doubt it

slash83 said:

Lazar not impressed, says he went too early.

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Lazar has had a change of heart.

Rob0729 said:

Lazar has had a change of heart.

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I see he got the text from Stacey.