With the wide receiver position in the spotlight, Douglas is in line to take the second-year jump.

Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Carrying more than $100 million in salary cap space at one point, the New England Patriots were expected to be big players in this year’s free agency period. And why would they not be coming off a 4-13 season and with some serious questions about their talent, especially on the offensive side of the ball?

They certainly were active, keeping key offensive pieces such as Michael Onwenu (3 years, $57M), Kendrick Bourne (3 years, $19.5M), and Hunter Henry (3 years, $27M) in the fold. But while they did invest serious dollars into retaining in-house talent, their outside acquisition lacked a certain pedigree, especially at the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball.

The team added just three players alongside bridge/backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett: running back Antonio Gibson (3 years, $11.3M), tight end Austin Hooper (1 year, $3M), and wide receiver K.J. Osborn (1 year, $4M). All of them are experienced players with a proven track record of production, but hardly would fall into the “splash” category like other available players such as neo-Titan Calvin Ridley.

The Patriots hope to get production out of them, plus the aforementioned Bourne and Henry. They also are likely to make early-round investments in the wide receiver spot in particular in the upcoming draft.

However, they will likely also turn to somebody else entirely: sophomore wideout DeMario “Pop” Douglas.

A sixth-round draft pick out Liberty last offseason, Douglas quickly burst onto the scene. His potential was apparent as early as New England’s spring practices, and he continued developing a good chemistry with the team’s quarterbacks over the course of training camp — to a point where he actually started getting starting reps.

There were a few bumps along the road, including concerns about concussions and ball security. In total, however, he proved himself one of the few bright spots on the Patriots’ overall lackluster offense.

In fact, Douglas ended his first NFL season as the most productive rookie wide receiver of the Bill Belichick era. In the future Hall of Famer’s 24 years leading the team, no wideout had more catches and receiving yards in Year 1 than the 5-foot-8, 192-pound Douglas.

Starting with undrafted free agent Shockmain Davis in 2000 and going all the way to Douglas’ 2023 campaign, we have a total of 24 rookie wide receiver seasons to look at. And as a quick glance at the different statistics shows, the newest addition to that list is not just holding up quite well when compared to his peers — he is actually jumping off the page in terms of production and opportunity.

That is true for both his volume numbers and his averages:

Douglas’ production speaks for his ability to quickly adapt to the NFL, despite having played against Division I competition in college. That said, it also is a result of circumstance: he proved himself at a high-volume position versus lackluster competition, and benefitted from injuries ravaging the rest of the wide receiver group.

Two players’ own 2023 seasons in particular had a direct impact on Douglas’ exposure. The first is Kendrick Bourne, who was the team’s most productive pass catcher from his Z-receiver spot before a torn ACL ended his season in late October; the other is free agency signing JuJu Smith-Schuster, who not only dealt with a nagging knee ailment for much of the year but also struggled to find his groove in Year 1 with the Patriots.

Smith-Schuster’s unreliability both in terms of performance and availability directly played into Douglas’ hands. To his credit, though, the youngster saw the door open, walked through it, and never intended to turn around.

Along the way, he developed into the Patriots’ most dynamic receiving weapon and a player whose tantalizing potential shone through repeatedly throughout the year.

Cleansing the timeline with DeMario Douglas highlights pic.twitter.com/KMaLzgBSM2

— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) March 15, 2024

When looking at the current composition of the Patriots’ nine-man wide receiver group, it is hard not to assign Douglas a “starter” label. He looks like the No. 1 option the team has in the slot at the moment, ahead of Smith-Schuster. As such should again see his fair share of targets come his way in 2024 — regardless if Jacoby Brissett or a likely highly-drafted rookie is throwing him the passes.

The rest of the group, on the other hand, is filled with question marks.

On paper, Kendrick Bourne is the top option at the Z-receiver spot, with K.J. Osborn and Tyquan Thornton as well as, to a lesser degree Kayshon Boutte and Kawaan Baker also factoring into the mix. Bourne, of course, is coming off a torn ACL, while Osborn looks like more of a complementary receiver. Thornton, Boutte and Baker all have had their fair share of problems since arriving in the NFL and are, at best, unproven.

Thornton, Osborn together with Jalen Reagor and T.J. Luther, currently also look like top targets the team has available to line up on the perimeter. That spot — in particular the X-receiver position — is presently New England’s biggest weakness at the skill positions, and probably No. 3 on the team overall behind quarterback and left tackle.

Douglas will not help address it; his frame and skillset are simply not suited to line up on the outside on a consistent basis. However, his presence combined with his possible growth as a second-year wide receiver, could help soften the blow of New England either having to rely on the players listed above and possible rookie additions to fill that vacant spot.

He does not look like your prototypical WR1, and time will tell if he can build on his promising first year in New England under a new offensive coordinator. Fact is, however, that Douglas very well looks poised to become an X-factor for the Patriots in lieu of any splash additions in free agency or on the trade market.

Unless the team somehow acquires Tee Higgins via trade from the Cincinnati Bengals or manages to get its hands on another first-round caliber wideout in the draft, Douglas could again be the most dynamic piece of the Patriots’ aerial attack in 2024. As things currently stand, the New England offense is trending that way — something that is not necessarily a negative, though, especially for one of Douglas’ teammates.

“Pop has a special skill set,” Kendrick Bourne recently said about the 23-year-old. “I feel like he’s going to show the world more than we saw last year.”