With Calvin Ridley gone, a look at Patriots' options at wide receiver in draft and free agency

BOSTON -- Calvin Ridley chose the Titans. So the Patriots must move on.

Realistically, very few -- if any -- people in football look at Ridley as a game-changing type of player. He just so happened to be the best wide receiver to hit free agency this year, which resulted in a multi-day national obsession over his decision. And after a twist ending that saw the Titans emerge from thin air to give Ridley a four-year, $92 million deal with $50 million guaranteed, Ridley Watch has officially come to an end.

For the Patriots, that means it's time to move on. According to Josina Anderson, they'll look to do so in the draft.

We'll explore that situation, but not before quickly assessing both the state of the Patriots' receiving corps as well as the crop of remaining free-agent wide receivers.

Current Patriots Wide Receivers

Kendrick Bourne
DeMario Douglas
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Tyquan Thornton
Jalen Reagor
Kayshon Boutte*
T.J. Luther**

*Boutte was arrested this offseason for gambling in college. His NFL status is unknown at this time.
**T.J. Luter spent time on the Patriots' practice squad last year. 

At his best, Kendrick Bourne is a solid No. 3 receiving option and a serviceable No. 2 receiver in a pinch. He was having a career year last year (37 receptions, 406 yards, 4 TDs in eight games) before suffering a torn ACL. How he recovers from that injury as he enters his age 29 season will largely shape the Patriots' offense.

The brightest spot on the list is DeMario "Pop" Douglas, who was drafted in the sixth round last year and seemed to have secured his roster spot before training camp even began. He caught 49 passes for 561 yards without scoring a touchdown as a rookie, but his quickness and acumen were enough for expectations to be elevated for him in his second year.

JuJu Smith-Schuster is probably only still on the team because cutting him would give the Patriots more than $12 million in dead money (and they already absorbed more than $6 million in dead cap money by releasing DeVante Parker). The team has to be hoping for some kind of medical miracle for Smith-Schuster's knee to allow him to be the player he was prior to 2022. Tyquan Thornton, entering year three, will have to show early on in minicamp and training camp that his apparent increased bulk will result in more production. Otherwise, he'll be a prime candidate for cutdown day after amassing just 338 yards and two touchdowns in his first 22 career games.

Free-Agent Wide Receivers

Mike Williams
Marquise Brown
Tyler Boyd
Odell Beckham Jr.
Curtis Samuel
Hunter Renfrow
Allen Robinson
K.J. Osborn

Mike Williams, a cap casualty of the Chargers, would be most intriguing if he weren't coming off a torn ACL in 2023 and a back injury in 2022. The rest of the group is serviceable if unspectacular, but the Patriots would be wise to add at least one veteran receiver at as reasonable a rate as possible, if for nothing else than to serve as JuJu Smith-Schuster insurance while also avoiding the potential of having to rely on Tyquan Thornton or Jalen Reagor in the passing game.

But clearly, there's no franchise-altering player available. Some good ones, some older ones, some injured ones, but it's easy to see why Ridley ended up standing out as the No. 1 option in free agency.

Wide Receiver Trade Candidates

This part's always difficult to predict. The players whose names you've heard bandied about in trade conversations sometimes never end up being moved. And players who haven't been publicly discussed as candidates often do. Nevertheless, we've seen these names discussed recently:

Tee Higgins
Brandon Aiyuk
Already traded: Jerry Jeudy, Diontae Johnson

Tee Higgins' production is a tick lower than Calvin Ridley's, and acquiring him would require the Patriots (or any team) to not just give up draft capital (likely a second-round pick) but also pay him the franchise tag salary of $21.8 million this year, plus likely paying him top dollar on a longer-term deal. Higgins would certainly help a team in need of receiving talent, but that heavy of an investment wouldn't be particularly prudent.

Brandon Aiyuk is likely a more enticing possibility, as he's coming off a 1,342-yard receiving season with seven touchdowns, which came after his first 1,000-yard receiving season in 2022, when he set a career high with eight touchdowns. Aiyuk has a more reasonable $14.1 million salary in 2024, but he'd also cost at least a high draft pick and then some, and would also require a big-money contract to keep him in Foxboro for years to come.

And it's that reason that the draft becomes so appealing. Top talent can be added without the weight of the hefty salary for four or five years. With that ...

Top Wide Receiver Candidates In 2024 Draft

Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State
Malik Nabers, LSU
Rome Odunze, Washington
Brian Thomas Jr., LSU
Adonai Mitchell, Texas
Troy Franklin, Oregon
Ladd McConkey, Georgia
Devontez Walker, UNC
Keon Coleman, FSU
Xavier Legette, South Carolina
Roman Wilson, Michigan
Xavier Worthy, Texas
Malachi Corley, Western Kentucky
Brenden Rice, USC

The exact rankings of these prospects has been and will continue to be debated and tinkered with in the next month and a half. But the top three of Marvin Harrison Jr., Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze is seemingly unanimous. And if the Patriots pick a quarterback with the No. 3 overall pick, they'll likely be out on all three. (Unless they pull off a move to trade into the top 10 so they could draft a quarterback and a receiver. Now that would be a memorable draft night.)

Despite that, there should be a talented receiver or two available to the Patrots when they're on the board at No. 34. And there will likely still be a receiver worth taking when they're picking early in third round, too. (And considering they got Douglas in the sixth round last year, and consider Puka Nacua was a fifth-round pick by the Rams a year ago, there will always be some off-the-radar players who make impacts as rookies.) 

The depth of this draft class at receiver is certainly what's giving Eliot Wolf and Jerod Mayo the comfort of knowing they can add some real talent at the position when the draft rolls around. That alone won't be enough to turn a 4-13 team into a contender, but neither was Calvin Ridley. For that matter, neither is Tee Higgins or Brandon Aiyuk. 

Perhaps the dream scenario would be for the Patriots to take a quarterback -- either Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels -- who works out for the long term while also nailing their second pick in the draft with a wide receiver who can grow and develop alongside that quarterback for the next four years. Whether that second part can be accomplished at No. 34 or whether it requires a trade up the board, we shall see. But if the Patriots are putting their organizational faith at wide receiver in the draft, the team's going to want to take multiple swings at the spot. And, of course, the earlier those swings come, the better.