The Ja’Lynn Polk era in New England was already all but over, but the Patriots have put an official end to the wide receiver’s Foxboro run.
The Patriots traded Polk, a 2024 second-round draft pick, to the New Orleans Saints, per multiple reports. The Saints have already announced the move, saying they were sending future considerations to the Patriots. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported the Saints are sending a 2027 sixth-round pick and 2028 seventh-round pick for Polk.
Patriots Officially Cut Ties With Latest Draft Bust
Polk is already out for the season with a shoulder injury he suffered in the preseason opener. He underwent surgery shortly before the 2025 campaign began. There was a chance, maybe even a likelihood, that Polk would have failed to make the club out of camp, but the injury prolonged his Patriots career, at least for a few weeks.
New England took Polk with the 37th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, and he failed to live up to lofty expectations in his first NFL season. Polk played in 15 games but managed to only catch 12 passes for 87 yards with a pair of touchdowns.
Polk, after a three-week stretch in October during which he caught just two of 13 targets for 17 yards, was made inactive for the Patriots‘ Week 7 game against the Jets. He returned the next week to play just nine snaps in an overtime loss at Tennessee.
Polk Becomes Latest Patriots’ Draft Miss at Receiver
Missing on Polk extends a brutal stretch of poor drafting at the wide receiver position, a cold streak that dates back to the Bill Belichick era. Despite throwing money at the problem with free agent signings of aging veterans like Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins, receiver remains a major black hole for a team that badly needs more talent.
In the bigger sense, the (Polk) pick is emblematic of why the Patriots have one of the worst rosters in the NFL,” The Athletic’s Chad Graff wrote. They so badly need a receiver to help young quarterback Drake Maye, but top-notch wide receivers generally don’t hit free agency, and they’re tough to trade for. That makes it so important to draft and develop the position.”
Polk’s physical skills are undeniable. He tested well coming out of Washington, but he reportedly struggled to find any sort of rhythm.
“Team sources believe Polk is struggling mentally with mistakes and that he’s hard on himself, so the issues are compounding” the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed during the 2024 season.
The Patriots‘ draft history at the position is staggering. Between 2016 and 2024, the Patriots drafted these wideouts: Polk, Javon Baker, Kayshon Boutte, Demario Douglas, Tyquan Thornton, Tre Nixon, N’Keal Harry, Braxton Berrios, Malcolm Mitchell and Devin Lucien.
Only Boutte and Douglas, two late-round picks, remain, and neither is a major game-changing talent. The Polk trade comes less than a month after New England cut Baker, whom the team drafted in the fourth round in 2024.
The Patriots have to hope Boutte can continue to make an impact. He might be the team’s No. 1 receiver at this point and looked good in the season opener, catching six of eight targets for 103 yards. The jury also remains out on Kyle Williams, the team’s 2023 third-round pick out of Washington State, who caught one pass in his NFL debut.
Patriots Trade Injured 2nd-Round Draft Bust Receiver to Saints