The New England Patriots recently released injured wide receiver, Cameron Meredith. They signed him in the offseason to a two-year, $2.02 million deal with New England in August. This was despite having a knee injury that he suffered in 2017.
Meredith wasn’t able to participate in practice and games as he was placed by the Patriots on their regular-season physically unable to perform (PUP) list in early September. Meredith was supposed to serve as insurance for the Patriots in case one of their receivers goes down with an injury. However, Meredith wasn’t able to fully recover from his knee injury.
The Patriots also cut offensive lineman Caleb Benenoch from the 53-man roster to create room for the return of veteran tight end Ben Watson from suspension. The Patriots also created a spot in their practice squad after releasing linebacker Scooby Wright. With their recent moves, the Patriots now have a salary cap of $2,851,550, per Miguel Benzan of Boston Sports Journal.
The Patriots need enough salary cap room to add a veteran wide receiver to boost their current roster, composed of Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, Phillip Dorsett, Jakobi Meyers, Gunner Olszewski, and Matthew Slater. The Patriots also have rookie N’Keal Harry on the injured reserve list.
However, the Patriots’ current salary cap position prevents them from adding a veteran wideout that could fill the void left by the talented Antonio Brown, who they released 11 days after signing him to a one-year deal worth $15 million.
While Brown is already gone, his contract left a salary cap hit of $5 million.
Patriots could trade for veteran wideouts
According to Doug Kyed of New England Sports Network (NESN), the Patriots could work out a trade with several teams to get a veteran wide receiver to boost their arsenal. Among them are Emmanuel Sanders of the Denver Broncos, Stefon Diggs of the Minnesota Vikings and A.J.
Green of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Earlier, Diggs fueled trade rumors after he followed several Patriots players on Twitter, including veteran quarterback Tom Brady, Edelman, and James White. Kyed said that even their respective teams agree to trade one of them to the Patriots, New England will have a hard time creating room in their salary cap to accommodate their salary.
Patriots to compromise future cap space
This season, Sanders is slated to earn $7.84 million, Diggs will pocket around $6.81 million and Green is expected to add $9.16 million to his bank account. While it is possible for the Patriots to create more salary cap room, they will have to compromise future salary cap space. Kyed said the Patriots could agree to contract extensions with safety Devin McCourty and linebacker Dont’a Hightower, whose salary cap hit this season amounts to $13.44 million and $10.95 million, respectively. Kyed said if the Patriots are not willing to sign McCourty and Hightower to contract extension, they will have to cope with their current crop of receivers and wait for the return of Harry.
