The New England Patriots selected Ja’Lynn Polk in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft with hopes that he could help out right away offensively. However, that has not happened to this point, which led to Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo publically critiquing the rookie after their Week 6 loss.
Recently, Mayo called out Polk for numerous drops early on in the season, saying that the rookie needs to “get over this mental hump” and “eliminate the dropped passes”.
However, Polk doesn’t see this as a problem. In fact, he believes that he has “the best hands in the NFL”.
“I’m not dealing with mental problems at all,” Polk said during a recent conversation with MassLive.com. “No mental problems. I believe I have the best hands in the league. So, I feel like my drops, that’s not an issue at all. I’ve got more confidence in myself than anybody has in me. I just have the mindset of wanting to be the best. So, keep chasing greatness and being the best that I can be.”
It’s great that Polk has the confidence needed to succeed in the NFL. But the stats thus far through six weeks of the season very much don’t back his claim of having “the best hands in the NFL”.
The stats actually back up Mayo’s claims of the drops being a problem for Polk. On his 23 targets thus far this season, Polk has hauled in just 10 of them.
Clearly, there is a lot of work that Polk needs to do to back up his unrealistic praise for himself…
