Maurice Harris and Keionta Davis clear waivers, revert to the Patriots’ injured reserve list

The New England Patriots had a busy Sunday, and two of the transactions made by the club saw wide receiver Maurice Harris and defensive edge Keionta Davis get released with injury designations. The moves exposed both players to the waiver wire, but while this gave teams a chance to pick them up none did. As a result of going unclaimed, both Harris and Davis will now revert to the Patriots’ season-ending injured reserve list.

Harris originally joined the Patriots in free agency, and started his tenure with the club well: the 26-year-old looked like a roster lock during spring practices and also continued to stand out early in training camp. After catching 3 passes for 27 yards and a touchdown during the Patriots’ first preseason game, however, things went downhill: an injury during joint practices with the Tennessee Titans forced Harris to miss the next two exhibition games — and now the Patriots to let him go.

Davis, meanwhile, entered his third year in New England after having played in six of the Patriots’ nineteen games in 2018. But despite seeing in-game action last year, the former undrafted free agent found himself in a difficult spot this summer: with Derek Rivers and Shilique Calhoun both seeing considerably more stating-level reps in practice, Davis was relegated to second-string duty before apparently suffering an undisclosed injury.

Harris and Davis now become the third and fourth Patriots to be moved to IR over the last two weeks. On August 14, the team released rookie cornerback D’Angelo Ross with an injury designation as well — he too went unclaimed and reverted to the reserve list. Yesterday, New England also placed core special teamer Brandon King on injured reserve: the 26-year-old had suffered a torn quadriceps during last week’s preseason game.