Patriots may have found their offensive Marcus Jones
In April's 2023 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots waited until the sixth round to draft a wide receiver, and they actually selected two: LSU's Kayshon Boutte and Liberty's DeMario Douglas. Boutte was an SEC standout and had national attention as a projected first-round prospect. The lesser-acknowledged Douglas is coming off his best season at Liberty, […]
In April's 2023 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots waited until the sixth round to draft a wide receiver, and they actually selected two: LSU's Kayshon Boutte and Liberty's DeMario Douglas.
Boutte was an SEC standout and had national attention as a projected first-round prospect. The lesser-acknowledged Douglas is coming off his best season at Liberty, where he caught 79 passes for 993 passing yards and six touchdowns.
Douglas tested out as an above-average athlete with 4.44 40-yard dash speed, which is more than enough to work the short, intermediate, and deeper areas of the field. Douglas has a slight frame at 5-foot-8, 179 pounds with 10th percentile arm length and ninth percentile hand-sized.
Douglas averaged 6.4 yards after the catch in 2022, which ranked 25th out of 119 eligible wide receivers in the FBS (minimum 75 targets). Zay Flowers, who was on many Patriots fans' draft wish-lists, also averaged 6.4 yards after the catch.
Douglas's best attribute is his horizontal explosion. It wasn't reflected in his agility drills, as his testing numbers in the 3-cone drill and 20-yard shuttle were mediocre, both ranking in the 52nd percentile. It remains to be seen what translates to the NFL, but the tape shows an athlete that explodes with no regard for his knees.
Douglas' jumping drills were elite, his 39.5-inch vertical jump ranked in the 95th percentile, and his 11-foot, 2-inch broad jump ranked in the 99th percentile.
Douglas doesn't have a true second gear, and is a bit of a linear runner but has enough speed to stretch the seam vertically at the next level.
Douglas took a majority of his snaps inside the numbers with 85.5% of his snaps coming from the slot in 2022. In the NFL, his role will be similar. Douglas is a slot-exclusive/gadget type of player.
Douglas isn't afraid of contact in bump-n-run coverage and displayed the ability to maintain speed through contact. Douglas' small frame makes it difficult for him to be an overwhelmingly physical player at the catch point, he will need to be able to "survive the ground" and come down with catches like the one in the clip below.
Douglas often flashes his seam-stretching ability, but he struggles to come down with tough catches, with just a 46.6% contested catch rate, which ranked 61st out of 119 eligible wide receivers (minimum 75 targets).
Douglas is more of a nuanced route runner than he is given credit for. This rep below was a great example of setting up the defensive back for failure by getting into his blind spot by utilizing his combination of lower body explosiveness and spatial awareness. Despite playing against lower-tier D-I athletes, they were still D-I athletes. If this can translate, Douglas will have a role in the NFL.
I think Douglas can supplant some of Marcus Jones' 2022 role as a way to get on the field early in his career. As a gadget player, Douglas wasn't used much at Liberty, but he did flash his versatility with five rushes for 105 yards and one touchdown in 2022.
Douglas was a standout at the East-West Shrine Bowl and displayed his ability to separate all week against the best athletes present. This is likely where New England got their closest look at Douglas as the West Team was coached by the Patriots coaching staff.
Douglas understands his limitations and takes a nuanced approach to winning, he is a highly instinctual player and knows how to settle down in vacancies in zone coverage. Another example of that explosive lower body splitting two defenders to gain another five yards or so.
Here is a glimpse of DeMario Douglas at the teams' voluntary offseason program this past week.
The two wide receivers the Patriots drafted in the sixth round aren't the typical sixth-round wide receivers. Douglas is a smaller, slot-specific player that was forced down the board in a draft that was filled with similarly small, slot-exclusive receivers.
Douglas displayed violent cutting ability and an understanding of how to win without relying on pure athletiscm and seam-stretching upside at Liberty, but he is limited to the slot/gadget usage and isn't overwhelmingly physical at the catch point. New England hasn't had a wide receiver with this change-of-direction ability since Julian Edleman, and if Douglas makes the roster, he could add that much-needed dynamism that the Patriots desperately need.
Featured image via James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
