On December 14, the Arizona Cardinals released their number three wide receiver Michael Floyd. The 27-year old was arrested two days prior to his release after he was found passed out behind the wheel of a still running vehicle.
Following his release, Floyd had to go through the waiver wire and only one team put a claim on him: the New England Patriots. The five-year veteran officially joined the club on December 15 and even traveled to Denver two days later. He was inactive, though — something he will not be today against the New York Jets (according to Adam Schefter):
Recently-acquired WR Michael Floyd will be active for his first game with Patriots today, per source. Likely not a big role, but active.
As Schefter noted, Floyd will likely not be a big part of the game plan today. After all, even with Danny Amendola out, he is still only fourth on New England's wide receiver depth chart. Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan and Malcolm Mitchell all project to play bigger roles than Floyd today, while receiving backs Dion Lewis and James White as well as tight end Martellus Bennett will also see more snaps than the newest member of the team.
Still, seeing Floyd active is a good sign for his acclimatization process within New England. Having played in former offensive coordinator Charlie Weis' system in Notre Dame, he brings familiarity with the concepts and terminology to the table but actually performing and getting in sync with Tom Brady is something entirely different. Apparently, Floyd is doing a good job of that — at least good enough for the team to make him active today.
And even if he will likely only play a small role today, this is encouraging news.