We have entered the second week of training camp and the New England Patriots are starting to run out of wide receivers. Yesterday, six of the 11 currently on the roster were absent from practice.
While this means more reps for players fighting for their roster lives, it also means more wear and tear for the team’s depth options. Therefore, even though some like Chris Hogan and Nate Washington seem to be close to a return, the Patriots are looking at potential outside reinforcements.
One of those is wide receiver Cobi Hamilton, according to Jeff Howe:
The Patriots worked out WR Cobi Hamilton today. Bengals drafted Hamilton with the sixth-round pick the Pats sent over for Chad Ochocinco.
As Howe noted, Hamilton was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in the sixth round of the 2013 round; a selection the team obtained when it traded fellow wide receiver Chad Ochocinco to New England.
Hamilton, who played at Arkansas before joining the NFL, spent the majority of his first two seasons on the Bengals' and later Philadelphia Eagles' practice squads. He was finally promoted to a 53-man roster in December 2014, when he was back in Cincinnati. Hamilton was a active for one game but did not play a single snap.
Hamilton also spent time with the Miami Dolphins and, after being out of football for the entire 2015 season, the Carolina Panthers. Now, the free agent has reportedly drawn some interest from New England, where he would be another depth option at wide receiver but a long-shot to actually make the team or practice squad.