The New England Patriots have quite the battle going on at wide receiver right now. They have 12 receivers competing for a limited amount of roster spots, and typically, NFL teams only carry six wide outs heading into the regular season.
But is it possible the Patriots can break that trend and actually go with more?
Brian Hines of Pats Pulpit thinks so, as he is predicting New England to place seven receivers on the roster: Stefon Diggs, Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas, Kyle Williams, Kayshon Boutte, Kendrick Bourne and Efton Chism III.
Hines only has the Pats keeping two quarterbacks, so he obviously has the extra roster slot going to the wide receiver position.
This is certainly a bit peculiar. It's very risky to only go into the regular season with a pair of signal-callers, and while you can always keep one on standby via the practice squad, what happens if an injury occurs during a game?
Now, it should be noted that the Patriots may decide to roll with more than six receivers given the glut that they currently have at the position. Even with keeping seven, they will have to make tough decisions, such as leaving Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker off the 53-man roster in this case.
But in that scenario, New England would probably be better off taking a roster spot away from another position; not quarterback.
Regardless, Pats head coach Mike Vrabel will absolutely have some trying decisions to make heading into the 2025 campaign. For example, Vrabel really seems to like Polk and Baker, but keeping both of them on the roster will probably be impossible. Even retaining one of them may prove challenging.
Perhaps the Patriots can make a trade somewhere (Boutte and Bourne have both been floated in trade speculation, for example), but training camp and preseason will certainly feature one heck of a competition at wide receiver.
