Ja’Lynn Polk was selected by the New England Patriots in the second round (37th overall) of the 2024 NFL Draft. To delve deeper into this selection, join CLNS Media's Taylor Kyles and Mike Kadlick as they evaluate and grade the pick. They will provide analysis on how Polk fits into the Patriots' offensive strategy, his potential impact on the team, and how his skills might translate to the NFL.
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00:00 I'm gonna go ahead and get my-
00:24 I am Mike Hadlick. He is Taylor Kiles.
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00:39 Me and Taylor Kiles are here tonight, Friday night, wrapping up the end of round three of the NFL Draft.
00:46 We're here to react to the Patriots' second round selection.
00:49 Wide receiver, Jalen Polk.
00:51 Taylor, Patriots sat at 34, weighed their options, decided to trade back for three spots with the LA Chargers,
01:00 and they end up sticking and picking at 37 and landing Washington's wide receiver.
01:05 The wide receiver, too, behind Roma Dundze.
01:09 I think we would all agree and say it with the Huskies, 6-2, 2-0-5.
01:12 - It's still a 1,000-yard receiver, yep.
01:13 - I was gonna say, one of the two 1,000-yard receivers in the dominant Michael Penix run Huskies offense last year.
01:19 That went to the national championship.
01:22 So your instant reaction to the Patriots landing what they, you would think, hope to be a wide receiver one for Drake May one day down in Foxborough.
01:32 - Yeah, you know, it was kind of a weird feeling because, you know, I had my certain reservations about the receivers that were available
01:39 because, like, I liked Keon Coleman, then he went.
01:41 And then it was like, all right, A.D. Mitchell is your explosive guy.
01:44 Troy Franklin's your explosive guy.
01:46 And they're talking about adding weapons and, you know, explosiveness to the offense.
01:49 I wasn't really thinking of Jalen Polk in that range.
01:52 I thought he was really more of like a third-round guy, mostly because he wasn't that super, like, fast guy.
01:58 He wasn't a dominant Yacht threat or anything like that.
02:01 But I said it in a tweet when I watched him, I think it was two weeks ago.
02:04 He is a damn good football player.
02:07 And when you started to hear about the old, you know, those kind of traits, period, I think,
02:12 and we heard that the NFL was higher on him than most, those are the reasons why.
02:16 If you have a glowing profile and you're just a good football player, the explosiveness stuff isn't quite as important.
02:22 And he still does have some downfield juice.
02:24 So, again, as I was saying, in a rebuild, he seems like the perfect kind of guy you want.
02:28 An excellent compliment, I think, for Drake May, where he's got great hands, he's kind of an accuracy eraser with good concentration,
02:36 and has just enough juice to win downfield.
02:38 I kind of compared him to a more juiced-up Jacoby Myers, who's not quite as adept as a route runner, but he'll get there.
02:44 He's still a young guy. I'm sure he'll grow.
02:46 And as he learns what's needed in this offense, he'll continue to thrive.
02:50 And he can play anywhere in the receiver role and is a good run blocker and brings toughness,
02:56 which we know is important in this run-heavy Alex Van Pelt scheme.
02:59 So at first I was like, you know, that's a good pick.
03:02 But really, once we got an idea of who the guy was, it really started to round out the profile, where I'm like, yeah.
03:07 I mean, other than not being super fast, there's not a whole lot to critique about the pick.
03:12 So yeah, the more it sat with me, I was like, hell yeah, I'm all for this.
03:15 Yeah, I like it. When they made the pick, frankly, I was a fan.
03:20 It felt like a little bit of a reach.
03:22 But then speaking with Elliot Wolfe this evening, he sort of mentioned, look, this is where we had this guy on our board.
03:28 We wanted to take him at 34. We had the intel.
03:31 We decided we could move back and land him a little bit later on.
03:34 They move up 24 spots for Saturday's portion of the draft.
03:38 So sounds like a slam dunk trade, in my opinion, for them, for a guy who they wanted at 34 anyway.
03:44 Obviously, you mentioned the toughness. His versatility is huge.
03:46 I think he can really play. You know, you think about it, XZF, like, you know, those sort of three positions.
03:52 He's someone who you can move around the field.
03:55 So I'm a fan of it. Also, one of two character picks, I think, on this Friday for the Patriots as well.
04:01 They're really focused on, you know, the attitudes of the guys in this new regime that they're bringing in.
04:07 He was awesome to talk to. He called himself. He was asked what, you know, what he brings.
04:11 He said, I'm a beast, a dude that loves football, loves his teammates and is ready to build and be able to come and bring a great football player and a very electric person and go on to win games.
04:20 So he sounds excited. He also worked with Tyler Hughes, the Patriots wide receivers coach, who they hired this offseason.
04:28 He was a quality control coach watching last season. So a bit of a connection there.
04:33 Cameron Wolf, Patriots college scouting director, mentioned that later earlier this evening, rather, that they leaned on Hughes for some intel on Jalen Polk.
04:42 So all signs, it's obviously early, I mean, but all signs point to them being on board with this thing.
04:49 So overall, they hit a big need in round two of the NFL draft alongside Drake May.
04:57 So what do you grade it? Give me a grade.
05:00 And why is why do you why do you grade the Jalen pick Jalen Polk pick what you do here?
05:06 So my way too early grade and that's what all of these are.
05:09 Yeah, we'll preface it with way too early because it's ridiculous to actually try and grade.
05:12 I did that for myself. I had the grid on the website. I've got my my draft tracker in my way too early grades.
05:18 I put it out. I was like, yeah, that that caveat needs to be in there.
05:22 I gave it a B plus because I thought like it's not good. It's very good.
05:27 A, I felt like might have been a little rich because but at the same time,
05:31 I feel like this is going to sit with me and I may bump it up to like an A minus because you look at the board.
05:36 I again, we're talking about like explosive guys, but guys who are maybe undersized and there were caveats with everybody.
05:42 And with Polk and his caveat is that he's not super explosive, but he still can win downfield.
05:47 And did he was a vertical threat in Washington's offense, which we know is a big part of Drake Mays game.
05:52 And he brings all these things where he seems like a Jacobi Myers type or he is a mentor kind of figure who's a leader in that room,
05:59 especially you got Kendrick Bourne and KJ Osborne who kind of can fill those roles as leaders.
06:04 But then, you know, DeMario Douglas, it didn't really seem like that type of guy.
06:07 Nothing against him. You know, it's just a certain kind of personality profile.
06:11 And you getting that with someone like Polk, who also obviously is battle tested and played some really big time football last season.
06:19 I think this is going to grow on me and it might start to trickle into that A rank.
06:22 But right now I go to B plus, which is still very good.
06:26 It's just that lack of, you know, after catch ability, although he's not a slouch or anything, you give him a runway.
06:31 He'll be pretty solid. He is physical and tough and fights for extra yards.
06:34 But he did mention he wants to be better after the catch and he wants to be better about,
06:38 you know, his route running and breaking them off, which he loved to hear that self-awareness from young guys.
06:42 So, yeah, B plus my book. But I'm excited about this one more than I thought I would be kind of when it was first announced.
06:49 All right. We'll take it. Professor Kyles gives it a B plus for Elliot Wolfe in that front office landing.
06:54 Drake May, his first young weapon to grow alongside in this new Alex Van Pelt offense.
07:00 So that's it for round two. Patriots take Washington wide receiver Jalen Polk at number 37 overall.
07:07 We'll have you covered for the rest of the NFL draft over here on Patriots Press Pass CLNS Media with him on Twitter at T Kyle's 39 Taylor Kyle's and at Mike Cadillac myself.
07:17 So make sure you follow along. Subscribe to the YouTube channel and check us out everywhere on social as we continue.
07:24 The Patriots continue to build this new regime under Elliot Wolfe and Gerard Mayo.
07:28 So for Taylor Kyle's, I'm Mike Cadillac. Thanks for watching. We'll talk to you next time.
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