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Veteran wide receiver Kendrick Bourne has been on the chopping block for a few years with the Patriots, and he is finally getting a change of scenery. On Wednesday, shortly after the Patriots finalized their official 53-man roster for the 2025 season, Bourne was released by New England and is a free agent.
The Patriots had been trying to find a trade partner for Bourne during this preseason, but they failed to do so and were forced to let him go for nothing. The Minnesota Vikings were one team that was linked to Bourne, but they ended up reuniting with veteran wideout Adam Thielen instead.
While the Patriots have no desire to keep Bourne around and the Vikings opted to go in a different direction, there will still be some teams in the market for a veteran wideout who has a lot of talent and has flashed that at times during his career. With Week 1 on the horizon and everyone trying to maximize their weaponry on offense, it won’t be long before Bourne gets scooped up.
The 30-year old spent the first four seasons of his career with the San Francisco 49ers before playing with the Patriots for the last four years. He has never been a true star, but he has always been a quality piece of a wide receiver room. In those eight seasons, Bourne has 292 catches for 3,714 yards and 22 touchdowns. He will likely be a cheap option on the open market that teams will be going after.
Here are three landing spots that make sense for Bourne now that he is officially a free agent.
The Raiders have undergone a total makeover on offense this offseason after a dreadful 2024 season that involved a whole lot of Aidan O’Connell and not a whole lot of successful runs. Now, Las Vegas has brought in Geno Smith to fix the passing game centered around Brock Bowers and drafted Ashton Jeanty in the top 10 to try and get some pop on the ground.
While Bowers will be the focal point for the Raiders through the air, he still needs some wideouts on the perimeter to open up the middle of the field for him so he can go to work. Jakobi Meyers has requested a trade, but for now he is still the best wideout on the roster for Pete Carroll and company.
The Raiders also made a move to bring in veteran Amari Cooper on a one-year deal to help solidify that room, but there still isn’t much depth there. Tre Tucker should get some snaps and rookie fourth-round pick Dont’e Thornton Jr. has had a great camp, but another body would not hurt in the slightest.
Adding a veteran like Bourne who can move around the formation and eat some snaps and targets for this Raiders squad could help open things up for Bowers to take a majority of the targets. That is a signing that the Raiders should...
