Polk looked like a potential difference maker for the Patriots in training camp. Seven weeks into the season, his outlook has changed.
Few things in the NFL can be as deceiving as training camp performance. Time and again players or entire teams appeared to show one thing over the summer only to look entirely different once the games started to count.
New England Patriots wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk is a perfect, and unfortunate, example of that. After consistently running with the starters in training camp, the second-round draft pick appeared poised for a major role in the team’s offense.
Early on in his rookie campaign, that seemed to be the case as well: Polk continued to see starter-level reps, and by Week 4 found himself atop the Patriots’ wide receiver depth chart in terms of playing time.
However, things have started going downhill for the young pass catcher since then.
From Week 4 on, Polk has been the target of 20 passes. Only five of those resulted in receptions for 47 combined yards. Meanwhile, four times a pass hit him in the hands but ended up incomplete nonetheless — including twice on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
That game in particular seemed to be a low point of Polk’s once-promising rookie campaign so far. Playing 57 percent of snaps as he nominal third wide receiver, he did not haul in a single one of his four targets.
Polk was hit in the hands on a deep pass on the game’s first drive but couldn’t complete the catch through contact; the same was true on a 3rd-and-10 in the second quarter (the play right before Jacksonville’s 96-yard punt return touchdown). He was tightly covered on an incompletion in the third period, and later slipped while running a whip route on a two-point conversion attempt in the fourth.
That play was the last of Polk’s day. He was announced questionable to return with a head injury shortly thereafter, and never came back out.
And so, both Polk and the Patriots are left with an all-encompassing question: what can be done to get him going again, and prevent him from a fate that befell several second-round wide receivers before him.
“We need more from Polk. We need more concentration. He’ll be a good player in this league. Just got to continue to work at it,” said head coach Jerod Mayo after the Patriots’ 32-16 loss to the Jaguars.
“I have to remind him he’s a young football player. I’m not using that as an excuse. This is not the last iteration or evolution of Ja’Lynn Polk. He just has to get back in the meeting rooms and go back out there on the field and get better.”
Drake Maye expressed similar optimism about his fellow rookie. While New England’s starting quarterback only connected with him once on seven targets, including that two-point play, he believes the two of them can have a positive future together.
In order for that to happen, Maye also points at himself.
“I think J.P. is a great player. He’s making plays,” he said. “Got to find ways to get him the football early. Get him in the game early, that will help him feel involved. Got to make a better throw to him on the corner route, first drive, little things like that, to get him involved. He’s a good player. We need him out there. It is on me to kind of get him going.
“Throughout the week, he’s always asking me to watch film and things like that. After practice, he’s always there. Got to do more. Whatever we’re doing, do more.”
Whether or not that approach will pay dividends at some point in the future will be seen. Fact is, however, that Polk has hit a roadblock after showing some promise early in his rookie season.
Now, the pressure is on him and his Patriots support system to get him up to speed again.