Kendrick Bourne's minimal usage has been one of the most perplexing storylines of the 2022 New England Patriots season.
The 27-year-old wide receiver went from being a key part of the offense in 2021 to hardly seeing the field so far this season. It isn't due to his performance as when he's played, he's been fairly productive.
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A deeper look at the numbers shows the Patriots should be utilizing Bourne far more than they have through the first four weeks. On a new Next Pats Podcast, Seth Walder joined Tom E. Curran and Phil Perry to explain ESPN's new Receiver Tracking Metrics (RTMs) and how they present a strong argument in Bourne's favor.
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Curran read an excerpt on Bourne from ESPN's recent article explaining its new Receiver Tracking Metrics.
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"Bourne technically just missed our qualifying cutoff, but his 91 Catch Score over the past two seasons was too strong a result to ignore. It's surprising, not only because Bourne isn't a big name but because he has had a hard time getting on the field for New England in 2022. In fact, if we lowered the qualifying threshold to include Bourne, he would have ranked third overall in 2021 and would be first from the start of 2021 to now."
After looking at the numbers, Walder is just as confused as the rest of us about Bourne's lack of snaps.
"One of the most notable numbers that came out of here was how high Kendrick Bourne's Catch Score was last year," Walder said. "If he's getting on the field more going forward, I would have to think that improves their chances of keeping that Catch Score high. Like, if it is that situation where not getting open at a great rate, and so they have to win those 50/50 balls, I would think he would be a guy that you would want to put on the field to help those chances."
Also discussed in the episode: Seth Walder explains ESPN’s new receiver tracking metrics and how the Patriots’ WRs rank. Will the Patriots implement more RPOs when Mac Jones returns? And why this Week 5 matchup vs. Detroit is important for buy-in from Patriots’ players.
Check out the latest episode of the Patriots Talk Podcast on the NBC Sports Boston Podcast Network, or watch on YouTube.