The New England Patriots’ offense is predicated on the slot receiver being the engine of the offense in Josh McDaniels’ system. Unfortunately, through the first three weeks of the season, the offense is limited right now, and it’s due to the lack of production from the slot receiver position.

The expectations were high for DeMario Douglas to have a breakout year in his first season working with McDaniels as the prototypical slot receiver for the Patriots, but Douglas looks unrecognizable on the field right now. In three weeks, he has only five receptions for 13 yards and a touchdown. He also finished with negative yards in Week 1.

Since Douglas was drafted in 2023, he’s been the Patriots’ leading receiver. This includes a short time of having multiple head coaches, quarterbacks, and offensive coordinators, but Douglas has always been able to produce and has often been the main hub of the offense.

• 2023: 79 targets (team-high), 49 receptions, 561 yards (team-high)
• 2024: 87 targets (second-most), 66 receptions (team-high), 621 yards (second-most), 3 TD

Patriots Need More Production from Their Slot Receiver Position

The slot receiver position in McDaniels’ system is what gets the offense up and rolling when it’s used properly. It’s supposed to be an automatic read for the quarterback and what should be an easy pass and completion for what’s supposed to be the most dynamic player on the offense.

Over the last two years, Douglas has shown that he’s capable of being a productive player from that position, and that’s what made the pairing between him and McDaniels so enticing. The vision looked great and worked during the offseason, so I’m not convinced that Douglas isn’t the right player for the job.

It has been speculated by Patriots team reporter Evan Lazar that Douglas’ 5-foot-8 frame doesn’t have a large enough catch radius to be successful when Drake Maye targets him. I have to disagree with that narrative because we’ve seen Maye overthrow the largest receiver on the team in Mack Hollins at 6-foot-4.

To Lazar’s overall point on the catch radius, I think Maye struggles with accuracy more than anything when it comes to targeting his receivers. Now, that doesn’t take away the fact that Douglas has been underwhelming to start the season, but it does help explain his lack of production.

That said, the Patriots offense won’t be successful without positive and consistent production from the slot receiver, which unfortunately, Douglas isn’t providing through the first three weeks of the season.

When I dive into Douglas’ film from this season, I learned that Douglas might have too much on his plate right now, and Week 3 proved it. I think there’s too much on his mind pre-snap, and it’s impacting the way he plays and makes decisions. We actually saw that in Week 3 when he took a step backwards on 4th & 1 instead of leaping forward for a yard.

I also noticed a lack of footwork in Week 1 on Douglas’ touchdown reception. Although he was on the three-yard line, he didn’t show any finesse or craftiness with his route.

The lack of production from Douglas in the slot position is ultimately limiting the full potential of the offense. It might be time to try someone different in that role sooner rather than later to help open things up for the offense.

I believe that consistent production from the slot receiver opens up the playbook for the offense in a McDaniels-led system in a similar way that establishing a run game does for any balanced offense.

Douglas’ 2.6 yards per reception and a 23.1 percent success rate just isn’t going to cut it with what the expectations are of that position in this offense.