Patriots Seem Intent on Selecting a Wide Receiver in 2019 NFL Draft

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The New England Patriots have a lot of retooling to do this offseason. The reigning Super Bowl champions lost key contributors like Rob Gronkowski to retirement and Trey Flowers via free agency. But, from the looks of it, New England apparently is in the market for a wide receiver in the 2019 NFL Draft.

According to Scott Barrett, of Pro Football Focus, the Patriots have had 10 different receiver prospects come in for the visits during the pre-draft process.

And the Patriots looking into drafting a wide receiver makes a lot of sense, as New England doesn't have much top-end talent at the position.

Outside of Super Bowl MVP Julian Edelman, the Patriots' only proven receivers are Phillip Dorsett and Demaryius Thomas. Dorsett has never exceeded 530 receiving yards in a single season, and Thomas is coming off a torn Achilles. Forcing Tom Brady to heavily rely on either player to move the chains appears risky, at best.

Interestingly, the Patriots still have the rights to Josh Gordon, who was great in his limited run with the team last season. However, Gordon has once again been suspended by the NFL and whether or not he can play next season is anyone's guess at this point.

That being said, New England hasn't had much luck drafting wide receivers recently. The Patriots spent second-round picks on players like Aaron Dobson (2013) and Chad Jackson (2006), and neither player amassed more than 530 receiving yards in a single season with the team.

If the Patriots do indeed take a receiver in the 2019 NFL Draft, Bill Belichick is surely hoping the selection ends up producing more than some of his recent selections at the position. Of course, he did manage to find Edelman in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft, which is certainly encouraging.

At least we can say Belichick did his pre-draft homework, as bringing in 10 different receivers should give the Patriots a nice baseline to work off of come draft day.

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Max Staley is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Max Staley also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username mstaley1212. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.