Patriots Interested In Mac Jones’s Ex-Roommate: Report – Home

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Getty Slade Bolden speaks to reporters during the NFL Draft Combine.

T

he New England Patriots have continued to meet with players who are eligible for the 2022 NFL Draft and have their eyes on someone who is fairly familiar with quarterback Mac Jones.

According to Jordan Schultz, Alabama wide receiver Slade Bolden will meet with the team on Wednesday. Bolden’s meeting comes a day after the team met with ‘Bama wide receiver John Metchie III.

[email protected] WR Slade Bolden has a workout with the #Patriots tomorrow, according to the source.

Bolden – 408 yards + 3 TDs – spanned 9 3/4 hands at the combine. Recently on The Schultz Report, the Bama CB star and fellow prospect @JayArmourDavis discussed how good Bolden is as a player.

— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) April 12, 2022

Bolden met with the Patriots at the NFL Combine and is coming off a 2021 season in which he had 408 yards and three touchdowns. While those are some quality numbers, Bolden is projected to be a last-round draft pick or possibly an undrafted free agent.

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Mac Jones’s best friend

Jones and Bolden were roommates when the quarterback was still in Alabama. Bolden described Jones as a “different guy.”

“He’s a different guy, but in a good way,” Bolden said of Jones. “It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s fun to be around him. Everyone saw him in the Pro Bowl and how he was performing. That’s how it’s always been.”

Bolden also mentioned that it would be great to play alongside Jones again.

“Playing on Mac would be great,” Bolden said. He is a good friend of mine. We have a good connection. It would be an easy transition for sure, but at the end of the day, whoever gives me a chance, I will appreciate it.”

Julian Edelman 2.0?

When Bolden was at the NFL combine, he instantly became a fan favorite in New England, saying he modeled his game after a Patriots legend.

“Julian Edelman, sure,” Bolden said. “Just the way he played, how he worked, the way he thought: you can’t defend me, you can’t stop me, I’m going to catch everything. That kind of mentality, I see myself being that kind of person. I try to emulate that as best I can.”

Bolden even said that he watched a lot of Patriots games while in Alabama.

“Especially when Edelman was there, kind of how they used him,” Bolden said. “We used a lot of that even after Bill O’Brien left (the Patriots). We also use some of his plays, different rubbing (route) concepts where they can bring in the tight end and rubbing a safety to make Edelman turn and run as a wheel route, just as an example. We definitely saw it, I saw it, especially on Sundays. I watched those games, for sure.”

Bolden also looks a lot like Edelman. At 5’11” and 194 pounds, the Alabame wide receiver is almost the spitting image of a wide receiver.

Since Bolden’s draft stock is similarly low to Edelman, the parallels only continue. Edelman was selected in the seventh round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

Bolden also said that while at Alabama, he was used in a similar way to another former Patriots wide receiver, Wes Welker.

“Basically, it was pretty much how they used me … if you need a good play on the third down, a good catch on the third down, or have that guy that has been able to run an option route, or run the catch guy, bend and turn. passes “That’s the kind of person Wes [Welker] it was… catching the ball in the middle of the field, with no traffic. That’s how they used me too.”

If Bolden ends up in a Patriots uniform and has a career similar to Edelman’s, New England fans will be very happy.

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