The New England Patriots’ wide receiver position has seen some personnel turnover recently. After Julian Edelman was placed on injured reserve following a medical procedure on his knee, the team also sent a conditional sixth-round draft pick in 2022 to the Miami Dolphins in exchange for Isaiah Ford. Furthermore, New England added Donte Moncrief to its practice squad a few days after working the free agent out.
While those are all the moves officially made at the wide receiver position, the Patriots reportedly were trying to make one more: as first reported by ESPN’s Field Yates, the team tried to claim Dante Pettis off the waiver wire after he was released from the San Francisco 49ers. Due to its 2-5 record, New England currently has the ninth spot in the waiver claim priority — an unusually low position for the team to be in.
However, it was not enough. While the Patriots had a better claim than the 5-3 Cleveland Browns, Pettis eventually ended up going to the New York Giants: sitting at 1-7, the team of former New England assistant coach Joe Judge has the second waiver priority behind only the winless in-town rival Jets.
Pettis would have been an intriguing addition to the Patriots’ receiving corps if only for the fact that he was a second-round draft pick just two years ago. Since then, however, the 25-year-old has failed to carve out a consistent role on the 49ers’ offense. Appearing in 28 games over his first two-and-a-half seasons in the league, he has caught just 38 passes for 576 yards and seven touchdowns. While his career started well, Pettis has not caught even a single pass since October 2019.
He would have been a project in New England, but one who might have benefitted from a change of scenery. With him going to the Giants, however, we will not find out how he would have looked like with the Patriots — a team apparently not willing to part with a late-round draft choice to possibly bring Pettis in via trade ahead of Tuesday’s deadline.
Accordingly, New England’s wide receiver depth chart at the moment being consists of the aforementioned Isaiah Ford as well as Damiere Byrd, Jakobi Meyers, Gunner Olszewski and N’Keal Harry, who missed last week’s game in Buffalo due to a concussion. New England also has Isaiah Zuber, Kristian Wilkerson and Mason Kinsey on its practice squad alongside Donte Moncrief.