Finally, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots front office have grabbed Mac Jones a new weapon in the passing game. On Saturday, the Patriots agreed to send a 2023 third-round pick to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for WR DeVante Parker and a fifth-round selection in the 2022 NFL Draft.
The Patriots finally have a legit option to be their No. 1 WR on the outside. As you might have expected, Jones was elated at the move and one of the first to take to Twitter to greet his new teammate.
Patriots Greet DeVante Parker on Twitter
Let’s go!! Welcome to NEP! @DeVanteParker11 👀
Jones’ top targets in 2021, his rookie season, were Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne and tight end Hunter Henry. With all due respect to that trio, the Patriots needed a bigger receiver capable of being more of a downfield threat.
At 6’3″ 220 pounds, Parker checks those boxes. He’s also the only receiver on the Patriots’ roster who has had a 1,000-yard receiving season. Parker responded to his new quarterback as the two may be on the way to establishing some much-needed chemistry.
Ever the spark plug and fantastic teammate, Parker’s fellow wide receiver Bourne also reached out to the former Dolphin on Twitter to set some high expectations for the upcoming season.
Bourne might be getting a bit ahead of himself with talk of a Super Bowl. New England still has some questions to answer at the cornerback position, on the offensive line, and quite frankly, at wide receiver.
Parker feels like a definite upgrade, but his acquisition is still just the start of building the kind of formidable passing game necessary to contend in the suddenly deep AFC East.
Matthew Judon has spent the past few weeks openly recruiting free agents to Foxborough. Parker wasn’t a free agent, so he was never on Judon’s list. Still, you have to wonder if the edge rusher will ultimately have a reaction to New England’s biggest offseason acquisition this year.
A Good Trade for All Parties?
The trade the Patriots made appears to be one that will be good for both sides. The Dolphins get a third-round pick in 2023, which could be used on a quarterback this year, or it could be a part of a package Miami can put together to try to pry away a more established signal-caller in a trade.
Miami’s roster should be an attractive one to just about any quarterback in the NFL. They already had Jaylen Waddle, who tallied 104 receptions, 1,015 yards, and 6 TDs in his rookie season. Miami franchise-tagged tight end Mike Gesicki, signed Cedrick Wilson, and made the blockbuster trade for Tyreek Hill.
On paper, no team has an impressive set of weapons in the passing game that rivals what Tua Tagovailoa will have in Miami. The Dolphins are seemingly in a good spot.
Things are looking up for the Patriots as well. A wide receiver group that features Parker, Meyers, Bourne, Nelson Agholor, Ty Montgomery, Kristian Wilkerson and at least one rookie wide receiver from this year’s deep draft class sounds a lot more imposing.
Also, the Patriots still have Henry, who led the team in TD receptions in 2021, and they hope to get a better year out of Jonnu Smith. The third-round pick the Patriots surrendered might not even be quite as big of a deal as it appeared originally. With the Patriots losing All-Pro cornerback J.C. Jackson to the Los Angeles Chargers in free agency, New England could be in line to receive a third-round compensatory selection ahead of the 2023 NFL Draft.
If that happens, as expected, and Parker has a strong season, this could be one of the better trades in recent Patriots history.
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Mac Jones and Other Patriots React to DeVante Parker Trade