Three days after opening up a pair of spots on their 90-man roster, the New England Patriots have made one follow-up move. The team is signing undrafted free agent wide receiver Ed Lee out of the University of Rhode Island, per a report from Monday morning.
What exactly does signing mean for the Patriots, though? Let’s find out.
New England bolsters its wide receiver depth. Not counting special teamers Matthew Slater and Raleigh Webb, Lee is now the eighth wide receiver on the Patriots’ roster. While he increases the overall numbers, his build, skillset and usage in college suggest that he will be used primarily as a Z and slot option in the Patriots defense.
Accordingly, the depth chart with him added to the mix now looks as follows:
X-receivers: DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton
Z/slot receivers: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne, Kayshon Boutte, Demario Douglas, Ed Lee
While these labels are not a fully accurate representation of how each player will be employed within the Bill O’Brien-led offense in 2023, they do show where each player is expected to see most of his snaps this coming season. What can be seen is that the team has plenty of interior and Z options at its disposal, with only one pure X (Parker) and one X/Z hybrid (Thornton).
It will be fascinating to see how O’Brien will employ the pieces, and whether or not Lee will factor into the mix as anything more than a camp body and possible practice squad member.
Lee adds some good speed and deep abilities to the offense... Lee may not be the most electrifying athlete you will ever see on a football field, but he has some skills to work with. His best one might be his speed, and especially his acceleration: his 1.53-second 10-yard split earned him a Relative Athletic Score grade of 9.06 and ranks in the 68-percentile for wide receivers.
Ed Lee is a WR prospect in the 2023 draft class. He scored a 6.45 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 1033 out of 2907 WR from 1987 to 2023. https://t.co/YK5TMiQpYT #RAS pic.twitter.com/GDPArKgDTW
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 27, 2023
Lee has some deficiencies in terms of his size, and doesn’t wow you with his long speed. Nonetheless, he has proven himself a player capable of attacking teams deep.
During his 2022 senior season at Rhode Island, he averaged 16.2 yards per reception. Considering that he lined up primarily on the inside and saw plenty of work on crossing patterns and in the short game, that is an impressive number reflective of his abilities to go deep if asked to.
...and experience to the kicking game. The Patriots have one of the most electrifying punt returners in the NFL on their roster in first-team All-Pro Marcus Jones, but depth is never a bad thing to have. Lee is no Marcus Jones, but he has some experience running back punts.
Over the course of his career with the Rams, he returned 15 for a combined 163 yards — a rather solid average of 10.9 yards per runback.
The salary cap should not be impacted too much by the signing. While the full details of Lee’s contract are not yet known, we can say that he has signed a standard three-year UDFA deal with the Patriots that will pay him a base salary of $750,000 this season. Whether or not he will actually hit the team’s cap under the Top-51 stipulation remains to be seen, though.
His salary is not enough to put him among one of the 51st most expensive contracts, which means that the only realistic way for him to hit the books at this point in the season is via guarantees. That said, any potential signing bonus or salary guarantee is likely minimal.
The Patriots add a Patriots fan. Lee played high school football in Washington D.C. but did not root for the local team. Instead, he grew up a Patriots fan. Born in 1999, he became a supporter of the team at the age of 8. Now, he gets to wear the team’s uniform — at least for some offseason workouts.
In a way, though, Lee’s fandom runs counter to his own football heritage. His father, Edward, was selected in the 11th round of the 1982 draft by the Detroit Lions. Then again, he appeared in only one game for the team.
Open open roster spot remains. As noted above, the Patriots had two open spots on their 90-man roster entering Monday. How will they fill the one that remains after their addition of Ed Lee? That is anybody’s guess, but a player like linebacker Carson Wells, who recently visited the club for a tryout, might be a candidate to be brought in.
Of course, New England having space on its roster will also fuel the DeAndre Hopkins speculation. At this point, however, things remain quiet on that front.
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