The New England Patriots got the win over the New York Jets, but still suffered a big loss to their offense. Romeo Doubs, who caught his third touchdown of the season in the 26-19 win, was placed on IR with a shoulder injury and will miss the next four games.
Doubs is the third receiver to hit IR for the Patriots this season, joining A.J. Brown (who returned to game action this week) and Mack Hollins (who has two more games left to miss). But this news comes at the worst time, as Doubs just started to find his footing in the Patriots offense.
Through six games, Doubs — the former Green Bay Packer who inked a large contract in free agency — has been targeted 24 times, caught 14 passes and those three aforementioned touchdowns. Now, he'll have to sit out for games against the Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions.
So with Doubs and Hollins both out, who steps up?
The Patriots have options, but in terms of numbers, it's not that vast of a unit right now.
Here's A Look At The Patriots Current WR Room:
Currently on the active roster, the Patriots have Brown, DeMario Douglas, Kyle Williams and Efton Chism III. Brown, who returned to the field after a high-ankle sprain suffered in Week 1, struggled — and yet, his talent remains the best in the room. The Patriots have also gotten good moments out of the other three.
Douglas has been a bright spot these last two weeks. He's caught three touchdowns in the last two games, constantly getting wide open deep down the field. Sure, he fumbled the ball against the Jets after doing too much after the play, but he's been very consistent with his hands when it comes to catching the ball.
The Patriots' win over New York wasn't pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but they did just enough. Douglas agrees.
"I feel like we’ve just got to learn. We can learn from our mistakes," he said postgame. "I feel like we had the ball a lot, for a minute, a long time. But, we’ll go back to the drawing board and learn from what we messed up on."
The Patriots are going to need to pull that drawing board out and figure out how they can try to win some more games with a depleted unit catching passes.
Williams hasn't been used that often, but his speed down the sideline is always worth throwing the ball his way. And Chism, the Week 4 hero with his game winner against the Bills, could step up for more snaps in the slot to replace Doubs after not catching a pass against the Jets.
On the practice squad, the Patriots have four players with varying experiences. Undrafted rookies Kyle Dixon and Cameron Dorner had moments during the preseason, but have yet to make their NFL debuts in the regular season. Chandler Brayboy, who the Patriots signed a few weeks back, hasn't suited up in his second season.
The Patriots also signed Ryan Miller on Monday, a young receiver who's bounced around the league since entering it in 2023. Most recently, he played for the Miami Dolphins — catching a 77-yard touchdown in Week 2 of this season.
Patriots Need Someone To Fill Doubs' Shoes
There's eight receivers in the building for this week's game, and all of them are going to need to get ready to potentially suit up.
"Everybody prepares as a starter," Mike Vrabel said Monday. "I can't wait to watch those guys that prepare all week without knowing whether they're going to get an opportunity to play. And then when they do, take advantage of it, and that's a testament to those players."
The Patriots will be back on the practice field Tuesday afternoon as they prepare for their Thursday Night Football matchup with the Chicago Bears. They'll need to find a way to get Brown more involved in the passing game and have some of the younger players help fill the hole left by Doubs. It's going to be interesting to see how this offense adapts, especially on a short week.
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