Getty Bill Belichick
The New England Patriots love shifty, quick wide receivers who can excel playing in the slot. We’ve seen Deion Branch, Troy Brown, Wes Welker, Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman have great success with the team playing this style. The Patriots have just signed another player who might have a similar makeup. On Sunday, the Patriots added former Division III All-American Mason Kinsey to their practice squad. Very little is known about Kinsey and he wasn’t in camp with the Patriots.
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Who Is Mason Kinsey?
Hailing from tiny Berry College, Kinsey flew under the radar coming out of school. He went undrafted by wound up with the Tennessee Titans in training camp. Kinsey didn’t make the team’s final cut, but the Patriots, who likely were interested a bit after the draft, decided to bring him in to be a part of their practice squad.
At Berry, Kinsey rewrote the school’s record books. Berry took the time to tweet out a bit of an introduction for Kinsey to Patriots Nation on Sunday:
During his time at Berry, Kinsey had 203 receptions for 3,343 yards and 50 touchdowns. He also managed to cross the 100-yard-receiving mark in eight of the 11 games on Berry’s schedule in 2019.
Obviously, that was against lesser competition than he’ll face in the NFL, or even at a DII or DI school, but there were 11 DIII players on NFL rosters in 2019.
Does He Have a Chance to Play for the Patriots in the Regular Season?
The Patriots only kept five receivers on their 53-man roster. If someone goes down for any reason, the team will almost certainly look to its practice squad for a replacement. Kinsey might well be behind guys like Devin Ross and Isaiah Zuber who spent all or most of the training camp with the team.
That said, it says a lot that the Patriots thought enough of Kinsey to pluck him from the ranks of free agents after not having him in camp.
Patriots Full Practice Squad
Here is a look at all 16 players the Patriots added to the practice squad.