The New England Patriots face a conundrum as they rebuild their offense this offseason.

They already had one of the worst offensive skill-position groups in the NFL last season, their top pass-catcher, Jakobi Meyers, is not only a free agent but currently the best free-agent wide receiver available, and they’ll need to pay him handsomely to bring him back, and there’s not an obvious path to acquire a better player than Meyers.

In fact, one AFC pro scout noted this is a particularly poor offseason to need a wide receiver. An NFC analytics executive said there's simply less wide receiver help available on the market this year.

It's a Catch-22. Even if the Patriots pay near top dollar to retain Meyers, their skill position group will only be as good as it was last season, and if they let him walk in free agency, then there's a distinct possibility it could be significantly worse. Re-signing Meyers doesn’t seem like a foregone conclusion either. It helps that his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, is someone who has worked well with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in the past, but we’re just one offseason removed from another slot receiver, Christian Kirk, signing a four-year, $72 million contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Meyers also could exceed $15 million per year in his free-agent negotiations, and the Patriots are not the only wide receiver-needy team with available cap space.

It would be tough for the Patriots to lose Meyers, but he’s never gained more than 866 receiving yards, six touchdowns or 83 receptions in a single season. At 26 years old, it’s possible that Meyers has hit his ceiling as an NFL receiver. And even if he’s brought back, New England shouldn’t stop looking for more wide receiver help. Ideally, they’ll improve upon last season’s wide receiver group, not let it remain stagnant.

It’s easy to say that Meyers isn’t worth such a hefty deal and that New England should let him walk in free agency until you look at his potential replacements. The other top free-agent wideouts are JuJu Smith-Schuster, Odell Beckham Jr., Michael Thomas, D.J. Chark, Allen Lazard, Parris Campbell, Mecole Hardman, Marvin Jones, Robert Woods, Noah Brown, Mack Hollins, Darius Slayton, Richie James and Jarvis Landry. None of those wide receivers are without their flaws from age to injury and just plain old skill. When it was reported that the New York Giants were releasing Kenny Golladay, it led people to wonder where he ranks among those free-agent wide receivers. That's how bad this free-agent class is! Golladay was such a poor signing that New York chose to just outright sit him last season even though he was making exponentially more money than the wide receivers playing over him.

Cincinnati Bengals top executive Duke Tobin shut down the possibility of a Tee Higgins trade, and even this year’s wide receiver draft class doesn’t stack up to recent years. There seemed to be a possibility that a player like Keenan Allen could shake free as a potential trade or cut candidate, but Los Angeles Chargers general manager Tom Telesco denied Wednesday that he'll be available. Even still, Allen will be 31 years old, entering his 11th season and on the downswing of his career after missing seven games to injury last season. Players like DeAndre Hopkins or Brandin Cooks could be traded, and there's history there for both players with new offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien, and in Cooks' case with the Patriots. It's unclear where either player's relationship with O'Brien stands, but head coach Bill Belichick has been more than willing to bring back players for second stints.

With Meyers and Nelson Agholor hitting free agency, the Patriots currently have wide receivers Kendrick Bourne, DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton and Raleigh Webb signed for 2023 and Lynn Bowden and Tre Nixon netted to future contracts. Bourne, the Patriots’ second-leading receiver in 2021, was a part-time player in an offense led by Matt Patricia, Joe Judge and Bill Belichick in last season. It’s certainly possible that he could take on a larger role in an offense that should be more efficient under O’Brien. 

Parker, acquired in an offseason trade with the Miami Dolphins, caught 31 passes for 539 yards with three touchdowns in his first season in New England. 

Thornton, a speedy, undersized 2022 second-round out of Baylor, caught 22 passes for 247 yards with two touchdowns. The hope is that Thornton will improve in Year 2, but that's no guarantee. Webb, Bowden and Nixon didn’t record any offensive stats last season. Rookie cornerback Marcus Jones also caught four passes for 78 yards with a touchdown in a spot offensive role.

Quarterback Mac Jones should be better in 2023 under O’Brien. But to reach his full potential, he’ll need a competitive receiver group. The Patriots have invested heavily in tight ends, but neither Hunter Henry nor Jonnu Smith have played up to their hefty contracts. Smith, who’s caught just 55 passes for 539 yards with one touchdown in two seasons with the Patriots, would be a popular offseason cut candidate if New England hadn’t restructured his contract a year ago and making that nearly impossible. Cutting or trading Henry would free up $10.5 million in salary cap space, but he’s outproduced Smith as a receiver with 91 catches for 1,112 yards with 11 touchdowns in two years with New England. At the same time, the Patriots were actually taking Henry off the field in rushing situations early in the season for wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey to get a more opportunistic blocker on the field.

Running back Rhamondre Stevenson led the Patriots in receptions last season with 69 for 421 yards with one touchdown. But something will have to give in his playing time since he also led the team with 210 carries for 1,040 yards with five rushing touchdowns in 2022 while playing 66 percent of offensive snaps. Stevenson played the highest percentage of offensive snaps by a Patriots running back since Belichick took over as head coach in 2000 by 12.8 percentage points. He was only Belichick’s third Patriots 1,000-yard rusher and the only running back to record over 100 carries and over 32 receptions.

The Patriots have more options to boost their running back depth in a loaded class of free agents and draft prospects.

After finishing the 2022 season outside of the postseason, the Patriots own the 14th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. And although they just invested a second-round pick in Thornton last season, that shouldn’t stop them from heavily considering taking a wide receiver as early as that 14th overall pick this April. And that’s despite the fact that this is not considered as top-heavy of a wide receiver class as the last few years. It would be slightly out of character, however. The Patriots have spent just one first-round pick on a wide receiver since Belichick took over, and that was on N'Keal Harry in 2019. It … didn't go well. But that's not a good reason to just give up on drafting at the position. The Philadelphia Eagles drafted JJ Arcega-Whiteside and Jalen Reagor in consecutive years before hitting on DeVonta Smith. The Patriots need to find their own Smith.

Their top options in the first round are USC’s Jordan Addison, Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt, TCU’s Quentin Johnson and Boston College’s Zay Flowers. Hyatt, Johnson and Flowers all broke out in 2022, while Addison and Smith-Njigba were actually more highly regarded after the 2021 season before relatively down seasons last year. That could be a good way of getting a quality wide receiver slightly further down the draft board than a top option would usually fall. Addison was the Biletnikoff winner at Pitt in 2021 before transferring to USC. Smith-Njigba was more productive than 2022 first-round picks Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson with the Buckeyes in 2021 but was hampered by hamstring injuries in 2022.

None of those wide receiver draft prospects are perfect. But Addison and Smith-Njigba seemingly possess the highest upside in this year's class.

There's not a perfect solution to fill the Patriots' need at wide receiver. The free agents are old, injury-prone or not that great. The trade candidates are expensive and might not want to play in New England. And it's not the strongest draft. But New England's best option is to try to get Meyers on a slight discount and take another swing on a wide receiver who can make an immediate impact on offense and then try to fill other needs through free agency and later rounds of the draft. And if the Patriots can't bring back Meyers, then their next best option is probably still to draft a wide receiver high and take a swing on an older veteran player like Woods, Thomas or Marvin Jones.

Featured image via Kris Craig/The Providence Journal / USA TODAY