Pats Pulpit
With training camp right around the corner, the New England Patriots are keeping busy. On Wednesday, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel had six players in town for tryouts, ended up signing two of those, and released another to put a bow on an eventful day.
While signing tight end Mitch Van Vooren and linebacker Riley Wilson, and waiving fullback Brock Lampe, do not seem like major moves in the grand scheme of things, they do impact the club ahead of camp. So, with that said, let’s take a closer look at what the transactions mean for the Patriots.
The Patriots did their best to fill out their roster this offseason, but they still had some question marks in the depth department heading toward camp. Two positions in particular were in the spotlight: tight end and linebacker, with the former specifically mentioned by Mike Vrabel as one that could see a further infusion of talent at some point.
Van Vooren is that infusion, just like Wilson is at linebacker. Admittedly, they enter as depth pieces and possible camp bodies, but they do give the club extra options to prepare and take an up-close look at with more than a month to go until the 53-man roster deadline.
He was not invited to the Scouting Combine and did minimal work during the pro day cycle ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft, but he didn’t need to: Van Vooren brings an intriguing athletic background to the NFL regardless of what his testing numbers would have shown. Before focusing on football, after all, the 6-foot-5, 255-pounder was a standout track athlete.
Among his achievements was setting school records in the 400-meter hurdles at both St. Norbert and Marquette. He was also voted to the All-Big East Outdoor team in 2022, and named first-team All-American in 2023.
Despite not having the same multi-sport history, Wilson nonetheless has a profile worth looking at. His 6.83 Relative Athletic Score may appear rather average, but a closer look at it shows that he actually tested very well in the 40-yard dash: the 4.57 seconds he ran at his pro day would have been the eighth-fastest time among all the Combine linebackers this year.
In addition to his speed, he also brings some versatility to the equation. He played both as an edge and off-ball linebacker during his college career, offering flexibility reminiscent of ex-Patriots linebacker Jahlani Tavai.
As Van Vooren and Wilson come into the Patriots’ fold, Lampe exits it. For the second-year fullback, the writing unfortunately was on the wall even after what was a relatively promising start to his NFL career last spring.
As the lone fullback on the roster at the time, Lampe saw some reps with the first-team offense during his rookie offseason and the early stages of 2025’s training camp. At that point, he seemed like a possible roster candidate despite having previously gone unselected in the draft. However, the...
