5 wide receivers the Patriots should avoid in free agency 

Plenty of wide receivers will hit free agency next week, 68 to be exact, but they're not all guaranteed home runs. Some are expensive, and some are just plain bad.

With around 80 receivers likely to be drafted there's no need to scramble for some of the more questionable free agents. Here are five the Patriots definitely don't need.

5 wide receivers the Patriots should avoid in free agency 

Chase Claypool 

If Claypool finds a new team, it will be his fourth team in 498 days. And if he fails to regain the form he discovered in his rookie year, he’ll join the illustrious list of players that only Mike Tomlin could coach. And it is quite the list; Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown both hit the skids when they left Tomlin’s watchful gaze. 

As a rookie, Claypool scored 11 touchdowns in 16 games. In his next 42 games, he’s managed just four. Last season, he only caught eight passes in the 12 games he played. Claypool will be one of the cheaper receivers available, but only desperate teams will be interested. 

Marquez Valdes-Scantling 

If you can only haul in 50% of your targets when Patrick Mahomes is your QB, you’ve got no chance with an average quarterback. That’s exactly what MVS did last season. He caught just 21 passes, the fewest of his 6-year career. 

Throughout his career, Valdes-Scantling has a 50.3% catch rate, and while he has a career average of 16.4 yards per touch, he will cost north of $10 million per season! And even with a new offensive coordinator (and probably a new quarterback, too), the Patriots shouldn’t have an offense that MVS would thrive in.