To summarize, here are the potential pass-catchers who are (hypothetically) "under review" this week during practice. The Pats are not required to make a decision about the roster status of any of these players until they decide to officially activate Malcolm Mitchell to the active roster - not required until the end of the week leading up to the divisional round playoff game.
Hogan -
... Based on his performance in wk-14
@Mia and on the fact that he's been "limited" in practice and deactivated for the two games since, it's not yet clear whether or not he'll be sufficiently healthy to contribute significantly by the divisional round.
... Prior to his injury near the end of wk-8 (Chargers), Hogan had averaged 67 snaps/game and caught 33 of 54 tgts (61%) for 438 yards (13.3 ypc).
Turns 30 next October and is under contract thru 2018 at $3.5M
Mitchell -
... Hasn't seen practice-field speed with the team, game speed -
or contact - since O'Shnickerschnee took his knee out in the Houston pre-season game on August 19th, 4.5 months ago. He hasn't seen live game action in 10.5 months.
... Last season, he averaged 24 snaps per game thru week-9 and caught 7 of 15 tgts (47%) for 95 yards (13.6 ypc). For the six regular season games he was active after Gronk was IR'd (and while Amendola was out with an ankle injury), Mitchell averaged 58 snaps/game and caught 25 of 33 tgts (76%) for 306 yards (12.2 ypc).
... Mitchell missed wk-8 (hamstring), wk-16 (knee) and the first playoff game (knee) due to injury last season.
Turns 25 next July and is under contract thru 2019 at an average of $820k/season.
Britt -
... HEALTHY.
... Big WR at 6'3"/~220 he's just 1/2" shorter and ~20 lbs lighter than J. Hollister.
... Has 8 years of NFL experience in other systems, and produced 327 catches on 604 tgts (54%) for 5114 yards (15.6 avg ypc) before joining the Pats - never playing anything but the "X" WR before now (by his own statements).
... He's now in his 3rd week of learning the Pats play-calling terminology and (best guess) a dozen or two plays (including blocking assignments). He's had 11 game snaps with the team in two weeks, been targeted 3 times, caught two for 23 yards (the third tgt resulted in a Brady interception).
Turns 30 next September and his under contract thru 2018 at $1.50M (no dead money if cut).
Dorsett -
... HEALTHY.
... Same size and 40-time as Cooks (literally identical) slightly better vertical and 3-cone. Had two seasons of NFL experience with Indy prior to being acquired by the Pats during cutdowns. Caught 51 of 98 tgts (52%) for 921 yards (15.4 avg ypc).
... He's now in his 17th week of learning the Pats' system. He averaged 14 snaps/game thru week-8 (when Hogan was injured), and has averaged 31 snaps/game since, including
@Mia in wk-14 when he got 0 snaps during Hogan's attempted comeback. His previous low snap count was 7 in week-3 v. HOU.
... He's caught 9 of 13 tgts (69%) for 168 yards (18.7 ypc) on the season (plus one carry for 7 yards), and has caught 2 of 2 for 28 yards during the past two games while averaging 25 snaps/game.
Turns 25 in January and is under contract thru 2018 at $1.54M (no dead money if cut).
Hollister -
... HEALTHY.
... "Small-ish" TE at 6032/242. He's averaged 5.6 snaps/game for the season. His 13 snaps vs BUF last week was the first time he's topped 8 snaps in a game since week-2 @NOL (16 snaps).
... He's caught 4 of 10 tgts (40%) for 42 yards (10.5 ypc) on the season. In the past two games, he's caught 1 of 3 tgts for 5 yards and had one carry for 5 yards.
Turns 25 next November and is under contract thru 2019 at $603k/season (RFA at the end of 2019).
