The Patriots are releasing veteran TE Troy Niklas and signing free agent WR Paul Turner, according to a league source.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 27, 2018
The New England Patriots released tight end Troy Niklas after just two days of training camp. Niklas was battling with Dwayne Allen, Jacob Hollister, Will Tye, Ryan Izzo, and Shane Wimann for the right to back-up Rob Gronkowski.
This isn’t a tough roster move to analyze.
Niklas is a veteran competing against a bunch of younger players in Hollister, Izzo, and Wimann. If the Patriots feel like those youngsters are anywhere close to the same level as Niklas, then it would make more sense to keep the players with the potential upside and allow the veteran to hit the market to try and find a new team.
Allen was a favorite target of Tom Brady on Friday and Hollister has been turning heads all offseason, so Niklas had an uphill battle.
Wide receiver Paul Turner is a good athlete out of Louisiana Tech. He spent his rookie year in 2016 with the Philadelphia Eagles, but was released during final cuts of 2017. He signed a futures contract with the New Orleans Saints in 2018 but was waived in June. He’ll have a chance to impress the Patriots coaching staff this July and August.