Lions blocked Patriots’ chance to take flier on recently-released Titans WR

The New England Patriots‘ revamped receiving corps has no doubt served as an improvement compared to last year’s unit. However, you’d be hard-pressed to say that the group hasn’t been a little underwhelming.

Outside of Hunter Henry, who’s caught a touchdown in five of the last six games, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor and Jonnu Smith have been wildly inconsistent (or bad). Combined, they have as many TDs as Henry this season.

Taking that into account, it’s pretty self-explanatory why the Patriots have reportedly been in touch with Odell Beckham Jr.’s camp.

Say New England is unable to land the disgruntled superstar, though. In the process of those conversations, they watched a serviceable fallback option come and go — unfortunately, through no fault of their own.

On Monday, the Titans granted Josh Reynolds, whom they signed as a free agent in the offseason, his release. On Wednesday, the Detroit Lions snagged him with a waiver claim. And I think I can speak for all of us when I say we’re all glad we’re not in the same claiming position as Detroit.

Why might Reynolds have been a fit, though? We all know Bill Belichick loves himself a bargain, right? Well, Reynolds is only owed $500k for the rest of the year, per NFL Network insider Mike Garafolo.

The Patriots missed out on recently-released WR Josh Reynolds?

If Reynolds had gone unclaimed, the Patriots should at least have made an offer for him. We know the receiving room is crowded, but, as we noted earlier, it’s loaded with inconsistent performers. Even Jakobi Meyers, the lone positive from last season, is averaging just 5.1 catches for 48.2 yards per game.

A former fourth-round pick of the Rams, Reynolds has never gotten an opportunity to showcase his full potential. He was buried on the depth chart behind Cooper Kupp, Robert Woods and Brandin Cooks in 2018 and 2019 before bursting onto the scene with a breakout 2020 as the No. 3 option after Cooks was traded.

Last year, Reynolds registered career-highs in targets (81), catches (618), receiving yards (618) and catch percentage (64.2%). He signed with Tennessee as a free agent with the hope of emerging as the No. 2 behind AJ Brown after Corey Davis’ departure. However, the Titans’ trade for Julio Jones made that a pipe dream.

As a result, Reynolds has appeared in just five games and is coming off a season-low in snaps (five) against his former team.

At 6-foot-3 and 196 pounds, Reynolds could’ve served as the big-bodied target the Patriots were hoping N’Keal Harry would morph into in Year 3. Right now, New England has a bunch of intermediate receivers who, for all their shiftiness on short routes, don’t offer much downfield and along the boundaries.

We’re not saying Reynolds would’ve fixed all of the Patriots’ problems in the passing game, but he could have served as much-needed depth as the team pushes to get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2019. He could’ve also done a lot more good for his career, ultimately, than he will racking up pointless yardage in Detroit through early January.

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