Romeo Doubs' bounce-back game can't hide a troubling Patriots reality

There’s no excuse for the New England Patriots to be searching for answers at wide receiver right now, but here we are.

A.J. Brown, the centerpiece of the Patriots’ offseason, is out with an ankle injury and will miss at least the next three games. Drake Maye’s two most trusted targets from last year’s Super Bowl run, Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte, are now playing elsewhere because of the team’s own actions.

Going into a pivotal two-week stretch of road games against Jacksonville and Buffalo, Maye’s top receiving options are tight end Hunter Henry and Mack Hollins. The DeMario Douglas experiment continues to yield few results. Kyle Williams hasn’t gained enough trust from the coaches to fill more than a part-time role; ditto for Efton Chism.

That leaves Romeo Doubs, the Patriots’ $68 million offseason investment, who’s done little to ease fans’ unrest over the offense's current state.

To say Maye’s rapport with Doubs, who spent his first four seasons as a pro in Green Bay, is a work in progress would be an understatement. Doubs admitted that he wasn’t locked in during his painful Week 1 performance at Seattle, which included no catches and one brutal drop on a would-be big gain in the fourth quarter.

On paper, he responded in Week 2 against the Pittsburgh Steelers with three catches for 96 yards. But he was hardly the security blanket that Diggs was for Maye throughout last year. Aside from a couple of broken coverages downfield, Doubs’ impact has been minimal at best, and it’s a major cause for concern as the competition ratchets up over the next two weeks.

Romeo Doubs’ fit in the Patriots’ offense remains a major question mark entering Week 3

When the Patriots signed Doubs back in March, the prevailing thought was that he would help fill the Diggs role with some elevated slot usage. That hasn’t been the case through two games.

Per Pro Football Focus, Doubs has only aligned in the slot on eight of his 77 offensive snaps. Douglas and Henry continue to see the most slot opportunities, with Douglas clearly leading the team with an 87.3% usage rate.

Doubs played mostly on the outside against the Steelers, which was probably necessary with Brown on injured reserve. The Patriots aren’t using the versatile wideout like a chess piece, though. He has the skill set to play any wide receiver position, but he’s lined up out wide on 85.5% of his snaps and hasn’t yet flashed like the true No. 1 option the team desperately needs him to be right now.

On Sunday, Doubs caught a short 4-yard pass from Maye and fumbled it out of bounds. He snagged a 29-yarder on a scramble drill play where Maye found him running free down the sideline.

Their biggest connection came in the fourth quarter on a nice scheme concept, with Maye moving the pocket to his right and finding Doubs behind the defense for 63 yards after the Steelers blew the coverage.

It was good to see Doubs in the box score, and he certainly helped the Patriots win. But his three most memorable plays — two deep catches and one blatant drop — have come with no defender within five yards of him. Maye’s not looking for Doubs on third downs or gotta-have-it situations.

In fact, Maye doesn’t seem to know who to key on in those spots, which is the biggest cause for concern right now.

This has been a rough look for Mike Vrabel and the Patriots. They decided to release Diggs and replace his 2026 salary with the younger Doubs, but they’re not getting the same impact from their new addition.

If that doesn’t change soon, the Patriots’ passing game could continue to struggle until Brown gets healthy.

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