FOXBORO, Mass. — You’d be hard-pressed to find a more tight-knit Patriots position group than the one inside the receivers room.
With a healthy mix of youth and experience, New England’s receiving corps isn’t short on energy or leadership. The on-field results might not yet be what players or fans want, but it’s not for lack of effort.
Part of the process: developing and maintaining off-field chemistry.
“I think we try to really emphasize it,” receiver Kendrick Bourne recently told NESN.com.
The receivers, like everyone else on the roster, spend most of their time at One Patriot Place, either on the practice field, in the locker room or in meetings. And the group’s energy shines through in all those settings, from loud, playful banter in the locker room to constant exuberance during practice — especially from Bourne.
But it’s away from the facility where the real bonding takes place.
“Obviously, we’re here for the majority of the time,” JuJu Smith-Schuster said last month. “But when we do get out of here, we do some time, whether we’re just hanging out or just enjoying each other’s company.”
Last month, those efforts resulted in a birthday celebration for quarterback Mac Jones.
“Mac had a birthday recently,” Bourne said. “It was good to just hang out. Had a couple guys there. Everybody wasn’t there, but a lot of the offense was there. It was good. We’ve done some things for team bonding, and it’s been good.”
Some of it simply is having fun amid the rigors of a football season. And most people know how it feels to have their work friends turn into their real friends. But for Bourne, he hopes the sessions also lead to a sense of trust and companionship that translate to accountability on gameday.
“Just knowing each other off the field, I think it helps break the ice between us when we’re in here to be able to communicate on a more intimate level,” he said. “If Mac yells at me, or (David Andrews) yells at somebody, it’s not out of a place of, ‘He’s on me.’ It’s a place of love. It’s tough love to get things right. I think that helps the team overall.”
Players in all sports talk about the chemistry that can be built during road trips when they really don’t have anyone else to hang out with. And the same is true for Patriots receivers.
“We’re close, man,” Smith-Schuster said. ” … It’s always fun, too, when we have away games. We go out to dinner, we hang out outside the locker room. Not just on the field, but like I said, it’s important off the field. You need that.”
In the last two seasons, Jakobi Meyers served as the glue for Patriots wideouts, as well as the group’s best player. He might not have been the loudest voice inside the locker room, but he was as professional and accountable as any player on the roster. And he earned everyone’s respect as someone who went undrafted by working his way into a starring role.
Now he’s in Las Vegas after leaving New England to join the Raiders last offseason. Some, including Devin McCourty, rightfully wondered how the Patriots’ willingness to let Meyers leave would go over in the locker room.
Maybe the move ruffled some feathers. Maybe it didn’t. Either way, from a leadership standpoint, Smith-Schuster has helped fill the void since signing in the spring.
“I think it was huge,” Bourne said of the addition of Smith-Schuster, who’s drawn criticism for his slow start to the season. “JuJu’s very smart. Whatever people are saying right now about him, all the noise … he plays his role well. And he understands his role.”
Bourne insists that Patriots receivers don’t care about their individual stats. And he said Smith-Schuster has been a big part of fostering that team-first mentality.
“We don’t wanna be on the sideline complaining about the ball or anything,” Bourne said. “And I think that’s what I respect most about JuJu. He could easily do that, but he doesn’t look at it that way. And I think that is the biggest part of his character, is he understands his role. And our room does a good job of understanding our role.”
If you followed Smith-Schuster on Instagram during the summer, you might’ve seen videos of him drenched in sweat while saying, “It’s that barbecue chicken.” He always tagged Bourne and Tyquan Thornton, both of whom shared the same kinds of videos but from different locations.
The posts seemed ridiculous. But they actually were a light-hearted way for the three receivers to keep each other motivated over the summer break.
“We go in the sauna,” Bourne said while laughing. “You know, it’s hot in there. So, the sauna’s cooking us. We’re just getting ready to go, you know? It’s a little thing we say.
“It’s funny. Just getting better, testing ourselves in the sauna, everything we do. It shows each other that we’re working and we’re connected in a sense. So, it’s just a little fun thing that we do.”
Obviously, the group’s closeness behind the scenes hasn’t yielded inspiring results on Sundays. For as much as Bourne and DeVante Parker tried to rally against haters during training camp, the uncomfortable truth is the preseason criticisms have proven correct — so far.
But it’s also true that Patriots receivers probably won’t succeed on the field unless they’re connected off of it. At least they have one part down.
