The New England Patriots made their intentions clear before the NFL cutdown deadline: they were determined to use their third position in the waiver claim order to aggressively add new talent to their roster.
They followed through by claiming four players off waivers—offensive tackles Zachary Thomas and Demontrey Jacobs, defensive tackle Eric Johnson, and linebacker Curtis Jacobs—all joining the Patriots on Wednesday.
Only the Carolina Panthers, who claimed six players, made more moves through the waiver wire.
Head coach Jerod Mayo addressed the team’s approach during a Wednesday press conference, stating, “I think it’s very clear we have to improve as a whole. We have to improve up front, and we felt like we did that with claiming those players.”
After reducing their roster to the league-mandated 53 players earlier in the week, the Patriots had to release four players—wide receiver Jalen Reagor, offensive lineman Michael Jordan, defensive tackle Trysten Hill, and cornerback Isaiah Bolden—to make room for the new additions.
As for whether these new players will be upgrades, Mayo acknowledged that it’s still uncertain: “We’ll see. You watch some of the film, you watch all of these guys. We were in a very unique situation, being third on the waiver wire. We felt like we improved our team offensively, defensively, and special teams. You get a linebacker that can fly down the field like that, you get some offensive linemen that can possibly develop into good players.”
Mayo emphasized the importance of taking risks: “We have to take swings at these players. Hopefully, when they get here, they fall in line and contribute to our team this year and in the future.”
