FOXBORO — Confidence clearly is not an issue for Patriots rookie receiver Javon Baker. Now, he needs to back up his boasts with his play on the field.
Baker, a fourth-round pick out of UCF, instantly made headlines when he said during his introductory video conference that his talents “make people in wheelchairs stand up.”
“Just come to the home stadium and bring y’all popcorn,” Baker said.
First-year Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo seemed to enjoy Baker’s swaggering bravado, but he sent a clear message to the 22-year-old wideout ahead of Saturday’s rookie minicamp practice.
“Honestly, for me, I want these guys to have a personality,” Mayo said. “I want them to feel free to talk about certain things. We’ll have rules of what to talk about. But now once he puts it out there, he has to show it every day out here on the football field. If not, he’s just a talker, and then you start to lose the respect of the locker room and things like that.
“He said it, he put it out there, and now he’s got to show us.”
Baker caught 52 passes for 1,139 yards and seven touchdowns in his final collegiate season, and he has a clear path to playing time in a Patriots wideout group that lacks a prototypical “X” receiver.
New England also drafted a receiver in Round 2 (Ja’Lynn Polk) and signed veteran free agent K.J. Osborn to join incumbents Kendrick Bourne, Demario Douglas, Jalen Reagor, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Tyquan Thornton.
Extra points
Matthew Slater’s official title has not been announced, but Mayo said the recently retired special teams ace will be “an advisor for me on all things football, and honestly, the things off the field.” Slater was present at practice Saturday. … Tight end Jaheim Bell, a seventh-round pick out of Florida State, is a versatile pass-catcher who can lineup at in-line, in the slot or at fullback. He’s studied Rob Gronkowski and wants to “follow in his footsteps.” “I feel like I can be another great here, as well,” Bell said.
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