New England’s wide receiver room looked deep enough in the offseason that the Patriots could afford to move on from Kayshon Boutte before the regular season. That surplus did not last.
A.J. Brown went down with a high-ankle sprain in Week 1 and landed on injured reserve. Against Buffalo, Mack Hollins left with a non-contact calf injury.
Depth that had seemed comfortable suddenly looked thin, and the team had to lean on Efton Chism, who answered with a touchdown catch that helped New England beat the Bills.
Head coach Mike Vrabel was asked Monday whether the Patriots might look outside the building for help.
“Sure,” he said. “Anybody that can help us. We’ll go explore here shortly.”
Exploring and adding are not the same thing, but the answer was more open than a flat no. Vrabel has been willing to say when a position is settled. This did not sound settled.
The injury picture is not all grim. Brown is progressing faster than the initial timeline suggested, and NFL insider Tom Pelissero has reported that the receiver is pushing hard to return in Week 6, the earliest he is eligible to come off injured reserve. That would line up with a home game against the New York Jets.
Hollins is the murkier case. A non-contact calf strain can mean anything from a short absence to a longer stay on the sideline, and Vrabel said the staff still needs more information.
He does not expect Hollins to practice for a couple of days.
“I think we’ll probably know more here in a little bit,” Vrabel said. “Everybody’s preparing as a starter. We know the energy that Mack brings, and next guy has to be ready to go.”
That next-man language is standard, but it also explains why outside names are in the conversation. One of them is Arizona’s Marvin Harrison Jr., a former top prospect whose third season has not matched the draft capital spent on him.
There have already been whispers linking him to New England, and a change of scenery is part of the public case. An anonymous AFC executive told The Athletic to ignore the draft pedigree and watch the film: “He’s like a third receiver with upside. He’s not fast, not physical and doesn’t do anything after the catch.”
Even that profile is not useless if Brown is back soon and Romeo Doubs continues to grow into a larger role. A third receiver with some remaining upside is a reasonable swing for a contender that just watched two of its wideouts go down in the first month.
Vrabel did not name a target or promise a move. He did say the door is open, and that the team will start looking soon. For a room that went from surplus to shortfall in a few weeks, that is the practical question of the week.
