Getty Slade Bolden speaks to reporters during the NFL combine.
T
he New England Patriots have continued to meet with players who are eligible for the 2022 NFL draft and they have their eyes set on someone who is quite familiar with quarterback Mac Jones.
According to Jordan Schultz, Alabama wide receiver Slade Bolden will meet with the team on April 13. Bolden’s meeting comes a day after the team met with fellow ‘Bama wideout John Metchie III, according to a tweet by Schultz.
.@AlabamaFTBL WR Slade Bolden has a workout w/the #Patriots tomorrow, per source.
Bolden – 408 yards + 3 TDs – measured 9 3/4 hands at the combine. Recently, on The Schultz Report, Bama star CB and fellow draft prospect @JayArmourDavis discussed how good of a player Bolden is.
Bolden had met with the Patriots at the NFL combine and is coming off a 2021 season in which he had 408 yards and three touchdowns. While those are some quality numbers, Bolden is projected to be a late-round draft pick or possibly an undrafted free agent.
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Mac Jones’ Good Friend
Jones and Bolden were roommates when the quarterback was still at Alabama. Bolden described Jones as a “different guy.”
“He’s a different guy, but in a good way,” Bolden said. “He’s fun, he’s goofy, he’s fun to be around. You all saw him at the Pro Bowl and how he was acting. That’s how he’s always been.”
Bolden also mentioned that it would be cool to once again get to play alongside Jones.
“Playing with Mac would be cool,” Bolden said. “He’s a good friend of mine. We have a good connection. It would be an easy transition for sure, but at the end of the day, whoever gives me an opportunity, I’ll be thankful.”
Julian Edelman 2.0?
When Bolden was at the NFL combine, he instantly became a fan favorite in New England by saying that he modeled his game after a Patriots legend.
“Julian Edelman, for sure,” Bolden said, according to a March 2 story by MassLive’s Chris Mason. “Just the way he played the game, how he worked, his mindset going in — you can’t guard me, you can’t stop me, I’m going to catch everything. That kind of mindset, I kind of see myself being that kind of person. I try to emulate that the best I can.”
Bolden even said that he watched a lot of Patriots games while at Alabama.
“Especially when Edelman was there, kind of how they used him,” Bolden told reporters at the combine. “We used a lot of that even after Bill O’Brien had left (the Patriots). We used some of their plays as well, different rub (route) concepts where they may bring the tight end, and rub a safety for Edelman to spin out and run like a wheel route, just as an example. We definitely watched it, I watched it, especially on Sundays. I watched those games, for sure.”
Bolden looks a whole lot like Edelman as well. Standing at 5-foot-11 and 194 pounds, the Alabama wideout is almost the spitting image of the former NFL receiver, who was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL draft.
Bolden also said that while at Alabama, he was used in a similar fashion to another former Patriots wide receiver, Wes Welker.
“It was basically kind of how they used me. … If you need a good third-down play, a good third-down catch, or having that guy that’s been able to run an option route, or run the catch-tuck-turn type passes,” he said. “That’s the kind of guy Wes [Welker] was – catch the ball in the middle of the field, with no traffic. That’s kind of how I was used as well.”