Whatever Nelson Agholor is reading, drinking, smoking or whatever, he can send boatloads of it over here ... and to the region, and the country.
Because if there's another person on the planet with a more relaxed, positive attitude — despite his place on the Patriots' roster being openly in question after the trade for DeVante Parker and the draft day trade up for Tyquan Thornton — then I haven't seen it.
Facing the New England media horde virtually on Tuesday, Agholor was the picture of contentment, with his teammates, the coaches, the scheme, his place on the roster ... and, well, just about everything ... including when asked a very valid question about his $15 million cap number — after catching 37 passes for 473 yards his first season in New England.
"You know, you're allowed to ask that," Agholor said with a smile. "I don't focus on that. You know, I'm here for a reason. And I love the opportunity that's given to me to be a Patriot to work hard. And the best part about it is in year two in the Patriot system is when guys really get going and I feel comfortable, and I'm excited to have my best season with the Patriots and, you know, show why I'm here."
You could understand why Agholor was here as the top free-agent pick of the Patriots in 2021, as the team signed four big offensive pieces to jump-start a talent base on offense that had fallen into disrepair.
But after an underwhelming initial campaign, and the additions of Parker and Thornton — both of whom play on the boundary like Agholor did a year ago — it's fair to question if Agholor has a place on this team, if those two players quickly prove themselves. Agholor said, basically, bring it on.
"Well, the first thing is, this the NFL, every year there's somebody good in front of you or behind you. So the job is to compete. You know, that's what you do. You compete. You compete and then things are put into play," he said. "I'm in a good place because I have no problem with that. I compete. And I'm going to compete and put my best foot forward and, you know, show my value. And that's it. Every year you had it, you got to draft somebody every year, you got to try to make your team the best we can and I think we did that with both those guys. They're super talented players and I think their ability will only allow me to get better by competing with their ability. I think they're quality players that will help my game rise to a certain standard. So I'm excited about that."
Let's just contrast, for a minute, the attitude displayed by N'Keal Harry a year ago when, after the offseason spending spree that saw the Patriots sign Agholor and Kendrick Bourne at receiver, the former first round pick decided that a trade out of New England, before the competition had even started, was the best way to look at the situation.
Give me five Nelson Agholors any day of the week.
Some other topics Agholor touched on ...
If he noticed a growing comfort level heading into Year 2:
''I definitely have. For me, it's familiarity, first with the concepts, familiarity with how we do things, whether it's scheduling, training, all those things. And being more in the routine. You know, I think it helps that I'm familiar with the environment, familar with my coaching staff in terms of, you know, people in this building, strengtg staff, training staff. And, you know, I know the routes. The route tree is unique. Everybody runs certain routes for the route tree is a little different than where I ran before. And now I know it so I get to put my own spin on how we do things and play fast. I'm just growing, practicing putting stuff on tape and being comfortable with it, you know, put my own flavor on what I put on tape, whereas a year ago, you know, I was learning so you do things at a certain like learning tempo. You never get to just go full speed because you want to make sure you're doing it right. So you kind of move with caution. Now I know what it looks like and I get to just put my flavor on it. So that's the cool part about year two. You've done it, had a year of tape of it. Now you self studying and you just play fast.''
Continuity on coaching staff (he deflected questions about who his WRs coach and offensive coordinator are) ...
''We still have the guys that we play next to first of all, so that's important. And then the guys that are in this building, I'm familiar with a majority of them. I think we had one guy that wasn't here last year. Everybody else I'm familiar with, and had a good relationship with. So I'm excited.''
On his struggles last season...
"It's behind us but I would say it went the way it was supposed to, for me to grow. I can't really look at it any other way. I needed to grow. I needed to adapt. I needed to be able to do what I wanted to do. And I think everything happens for a reason. I'm not gonna get upset about this or that because it's in the past. What I do have in front of me is a really wonderful opportunity this year, to be who I'm supposed to be in play the way I want to play, so I'm alright with that."
On Mac Jones...
''Yeah, I think Mac's greatest strength is his ability to communicate. Obviously he's a great quarterback, I think he throws a ball amazing. But I love the way he communicates. And that's something that allows you to grow together, and work together. Communication is, you know, the key to every great relationship. He does a great job telling me what he sees, he does a great job of telling me what he likes about what I'm doing. Tells me a great job of some things that are hard for him to read when I move around and things like that, you know, and once you know, it's less gray area.
I mean, honestly, he's doing a great job developing. Shows up every day working hard like everybody else in the building. And he works hard. You know, I can tell you that much. You know, he leads by example with his effort each day. It's consistent. He has consistent hard work and effort, he trains really hard and he leads the bunch. I think that that is definitely something you must respect about him, how he trains. And I just go back to now on-field play, his communication is everything. His ability to pick guys up, his ability to communicate not only to the linemen, but to the backs and to the receivers and in the tight end, he does a great job.''
On what Agholor tells others about his New England experience...
"Well, I would say the best way to describe it now is it's truly a brotherhood. I think that this organization does a really good job of bringing a lot of men from different backgrounds into one place and putting them through a certain level of competition, extraneous work that allows them to grow together and embrace discomfort together. And that's how you grow. That's my best way of putting it you know. It's been fun because a year ago things were hard and now we train hard and, and we just have fun with it. It ain't getting no easier. We just have fun with how hard it sometimes things are. And we get after it. So I love and respect it. And especially in the wideout room, we know it's tough, we know it's tough how we work, but we love it. And we do it all together and we get through it together. So it's a fun time. We do it with a smile on our face, and we crack jokes, shake hands and all that. So it's a good time."
On what he knows now that he didn't know before ...
"You don't know until you experience it. You know, that's the reality. I didn't experience any of this. I got here, I signed here and then that was it. And I went through it and I learned and learned as I went on. Now that I've gone through it, it's like, I see it, the picture's clear of what we're trying to do, how we work, what it takes in terms of communication, what it takes in terms of you know, effort, focus and continuous positive energy every day to get better. Because there are going to be days where things don't go your way, but you have to have a positive energy, a clear mind and a certain level of focus so you can grow each day. And yeah, that's the blessing about it. Like I know what we do, we get after it, we grind. That's it, it's as easy as that."