New England Patriots WR Danny Amendola suffered an ankle sprain on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams and he is expected to remain out until the playoffs. The Patriots are down to three healthy wide receivers in Julian Edelman, Chris Hogan, and Malcolm Mitchell, so it isn’t surprising that the team is working out players to help with depth.
The Patriots worked out WR Dez Stewart and brought in offensive linemen James Stone and Chris Watt for workouts today.
— Doug Kyed (@DougKyed) December 6, 2016
Dez Stewart is a 6’0, 205-pound receiver out of Division II Ohio Dominican. He runs a 4.43s 40 yard dash and a 7.00s three cone, and has a 10’2” broad jump. Stewart signed with the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent, but suffered an injury in May and was subsequently waived. Washington signed Stewart, but the receiver was waived in final cut downs. The Packers signed Stewart to their practice squad late in October, before Green Bay released him this past week.
Stewart clearly comes out of a smaller division of football so he needs a lot of polish, but he’s a dynamic player with good hands. Stewart averaged 97.5 yards per game (YPG) as a junior, and 96.1 YPG as a senior, while also serving as a kick returner. He was named First Team All Conference at wide receiver for three straight seasons.
If the Patriots promote a player like DeAndrew White or Devin Lucien to the active roster for the remainder of the season, the Patriots would probably like to add another receiver to the practice squad.
James Stone and Chris Watt are both interior linemen that could serve as depth in case of injury to center David Andrews. The 6’4, 305-pound Stone started 10 games for the Falcons over 2014-15, but finished 2015 on the injured reserve with a knee injury and was waived prior to the 2016 season.
The Chargers selected the 6’3, 310-pound Watt in the 3rd round of the 2014 draft and started 8 games. He started the 2016 season in the Physically Unable to Perform list with a knee injury and was waived on November 15th after failing his physical.
Both Stone and Watt are quality emergency list players and it’s probable that the Patriots were just giving the players physicals to examine their knees.