![\"Bryce](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Bryce-Lance-e1775326340200.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Former NDSU wideout Bryce Lance is a fit for the Patriots.<\/p>\n
While the New England Patriots<\/a> have improved the wide receiver room this offseason, finding a viable option in the draft couldn\u2019t hurt.<\/p>\n Patriots insider Phil Perry of NBC Sports Boston<\/a> suggests that the team go for North Dakota State wide receiver Bryce Lance<\/a> on the second day of the NFL Draft. The younger brother of Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> quarterback Trey Lance has a strong skillset and tallied 127 receptions for 2,139 yards and 25 touchdowns in his college career.<\/p>\n \u201cHe needs some work on his release package, and he wasn\u2019t challenged to run a wide variety of routes at the collegiate level,\u201d Perry wrote. \u201cCorners can beat him with physicality, and he\u2019s not the most natural hands catcher in the class. But players with his size and athleticism don\u2019t grow on trees. He also tracks the ball well and will fight for it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone with that bundle of skills is available late on Day 2 or early on Day 3, he\u2019s worthy of investment,\u201d Perry concluded.<\/p>\n Patriots quarterback Drake Maye could find a solid receiver in Lance<\/a>, which would add depth to the receiver room for 2026.<\/p>\n Breaking Down Bryce Lance\u2019s Measurables<\/p>\n Perry broke down Lance\u2019s measurables<\/a>, which are promising for the potential Patriots prospect.<\/p>\n \u201cAt 6-foot-3, 204 pounds, Trey Lance\u2019s younger brother lit up this year\u2019s combine,\u201d Perry wrote. \u201cHe clocked a 4.34-second 40 to go along with excellent jumps of 41.5 inches in the vertical and 11-foot-1 in the broad.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs his athleticism might suggest, Lance was a big-play machine for the Bison,\u201d Perry continued. \u201cNo FBS or FCS receiver with at least 50 targets last season exceeded his 21.2 yards per reception, and his 148.4 quarterback rating when targeted was third-best in the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Lance caught passes from Miami Dolphins<\/a> backup quarterback Cam Miller for most of his career at NDSU, and Lance then caught passes from NFL quarterback prospect Cole Payton in 2025 with the Bison.<\/p>\n Phil Perry Suggests 5 Other Options For Patriots<\/p>\n Perry also floated four other options for the Patriots in the draft: K.C. Concepcion of Texas A&M, Denzel Boston of Washington, Omar Cooper Jr. of Indiana, Chris Bell of Louisville, Chris Brazzell II of Tennessee, and De\u2019Zhaun Stribling of Ole Miss.<\/p>\n Concepcion and Boston could land in Day One of the draft, and the Patriots could consider using the No. 31 pick on either playmaker. Perry called Concepcion \u201cburst personified\u201d with his athleticism and Boston \u201ca down-the-field threat\u201d for Maye.<\/p>\n If not those two, Cooper could make sense at No. 31. Perry noted Cooper\u2019s hands and ability to rack up yards after the catch, and Perry noted that Cooper \u201chas the potential to develop into a go-to guy.\u201d<\/p>\n New England waiting for Day Two to select a wide receiver at No. 63 in the second round or No. 95 in the third round could also make sense. Perry noted that Bell worked with former Patriots star Deion Branch, Louisville\u2019s wideouts coach, and Perry noted that Bell is a first-round caliber wideout minus his ACL tear.<\/p>\n Brazzell also makes sense on Day Two since he boasts a strong skill set that \u201cis easy to believe in,\u201d as Perry put it. If the Patriots don\u2019t land a wideout by then, Stribling on Day Three in the later rounds makes sense since he has great physical tools for a role player in an NFL receiver room, as Perry sees it.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMatthew Davis<\/a> covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Sports\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NDSU wideout Bryce Lance is a fit for the Patriots. While the New England Patriots have improved…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-853711","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}