Patriots Add Needed Depth with Demaryius Thomas, Seferian-Jenkins

As I wrote last week, I had a feeling there would be some more additions to the roster prior to the draft. The Patriots responded by re-signing Stephen Gostkowski as expected and adding tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins and wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.

Neither Seferian-Jenkins, a 2014 PatsProp Top 50 draft fave, nor Thomas will be handed roster spots, but they give the Patriots at least a baseline option at two positions of glaring need, and that makes them more likely than not to make the team at this point.

🎙️NEW POD🎙️@Trags welcomes in @PatsPropaganda to discuss the draft strategy for the #Patriots and some new additions to the team

LISTEN: https://t.co/9nChasDdmD— Patriots on CLNS (@PatriotsCLNS) April 17, 2019

Thomas is coming off a torn achilles that hit him after he was traded from Denver to Houston last season. The Patriots usually had little trouble shutting Thomas down with physical play from Logan Ryan especially.

It would be a stretch to see him before September coming off that injury, the same one that potential starter Isaiah Wynn has. We’ll see what the contract details are, but the fact is that Thomas does little to alleviate the need in September, and beyond 2019.

Hoodie forbid something happens to Edelman because the Pats are even less prepared to deal with it than they were in 2017. Braxton Berrios has the chance of a lifetime to step into a second-year role.

Seferian-Jenkins isn’t too much of an improvement at the tight end spot, but at least he brings the most proven balance to the tight end position. He’s an upgrade on Matt Lacosse, who still has a very real chance to make the roster.

Both moves were necessary but are short-term fixes at best. Seferian-Jenkins can replace a piece of what Gronk could do. Still just 26 but on this third team, maybe ASJ can find a home in New England.

But until Thomas gets on the field it’s hard to have any expectation for him.

Stashed on PUP he could be a valuable mid-season reinforcement. Unfortunately he’s in a similar boat as Josh Gordon, unclear if and when he’ll be able to contribute, if at all. With an incentive-laden deal the team and player both should have a pretty good sense of what the expectation is.

What remains clear is that the Patriots are very close to the turnover that happened in 2005 and 2006 when holes started to pop up at positions like linebacker and wide receiver.

The needs at wide receiver and tight end remain, especially for the long term health of the offense, but the overall depth they lacked a week ago is now mostly intact.