New England PatriotsOur read
Written Oct 19, from his facts through last season
The IR listing is what decides everything right now. He has been on it since before week 5 of 2026, he plays no game while he sits there, and our board ranks him below every available receiver at the position. Whatever role he was building is on pause.
And the role was the interesting part. In his four games, he took 20% of New England's red-zone carries and targets, WR3 among 64 receivers with 20 or more touches of their own, one spot behind Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He also ran routes on 27% of the team's air yards in his games. The catch is the finishing half of that never showed up: 0 of 9 inside the ten, and zero touchdowns across 15 catches. A big red-zone share with no work at the goal line is a share that converts into a lot fewer points than it looks like it should.
The longer worry is the room. Stefon Diggs and Hunter Henry took 39% of the targets in 2025, A.J. Brown is ahead of him now, and players in his crowded-room spot lost 0.9 points a game on average from one season to the next. His 9.0 points a game this year sits under the 6.6 pace we set before the season only if you squint, since that pace assumed 13 games and he has already missed week 5 of 2026. We projected him at 86 points for 2026 before the season, and even that lean number assumed he would be playing.
Hold him only if your injured list is free. If not, the red-zone number is the reason to keep the spot, but it is not enough yet.