Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots rebuilt their wide receiver group this offseason, resulting in only two of the currently six players on the roster being holdovers from 2024. Besides returnees Kayshon Boutte and DeMario Douglas, the team also brought in veteran free agents Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins as well as rookies Kyle Williams and Efton Chism.
Three weeks into the season, the pecking order between them is starting to take shape.
Against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels mostly relied on a four-man rotation. As he had been all season up to this point, Boutte remained the nominal No. 1; the second and third spot continued to belong to Hollins and Diggs, respectively; Douglas served as a fourth option, with Williams as WR5 and Chism as a healthy scratch clearly further down the depth chart.
While personnel usage and position depth charts are not set in stone and tend to change depending on game plan and opponent, the Patriots have now used that top four in back-to-back games. It is therefore becoming increasingly clear that Boutte is the top option on the depth chart despite only catching three passes combined over the last two games. Meanwhile, Hollins and Diggs — the nominal starting duo — are moved in and out of the lineup alongside him as part of certain looks and packages.
The big unknown moving forward is Douglas. After looking like the Patriots’ most reliable wideout in training camp, he played just one third of available snaps the last two games. He did, however, see five targets against Pittsburgh — most among all wideouts on the roster — even though he hauled in just two of them for 7 total yards and one controversial fourth down miss. Obviously, momentum can change quickly in the NFL, but Douglas’ outlook seems unclear.
Here is our full snap count report from the Patriots’ 21-14 loss at Gillette Stadium.
Total snaps: 74 | Time on the field: 32:51
QB Drake Maye* (74; 100%), LT Will Campbell* (74; 100%), LG Jared Wilson* (74; 100%), C Garrett Bradbury* (74; 100%), RG Mike Onwenu* (74; 100%), RT Morgan Moses* (74; 100%), TE Hunter Henry* (60; 81%), WR Kayshon Boutte (56; 76%), TE Austin Hooper* (48; 65%), WR Mack Hollins* (46; 62%), WR Stefon Diggs* (39; 53%), RB TreVeyon Henderson (34; 46%), WR DeMario Douglas (29; 39%), RB Rhamondre Stevenson* (27; 36%), RB Antonio Gibson (19; 26%), WR Kyle Williams (9; 12%), FB/TE Jack Westover (3; 4%)
*denotes starter
Besides the wide receiver usage, the first thing that pops out is the running back group. For the first time in his career TreVeyon Henderson was RB1 in terms of snaps played, although that title comes with a bit of an asterisk: under normal circumstances, he likely would not have seen more action than Rhamondre Stevenson and maybe even Antonio Gibson. Both of the veterans losing fumbles, however, led to the team shaking up...
