With Doubs, Patriots Set Foundation For Their Future, But Still Have Major WR Questions
Beyond Doubs: Unpacking the Patriots' Evolving Wide Receiver Landscape
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The Patriots finally added a weapon for Drake Maye on Tuesday, with the club pulling the trigger on the first receiver they’ve signed this offseason.
New England agreed to terms with free agent receiver Romeo Doubs, adding a shifty and dynamic playmaker to their offense. The move comes after the Patriots parted ways with veteran Stefon Diggs last week, leaving the team with a big hole to fill.
With negotiations with Philadelphia seemingly at a stalemate for A.J. Brown and Alec Pierce staying in Indianapolis, New England shifted gears and went after one of the other top targets and landed Doubs on a 4-year deal worth a reported $70 million.
His signing creates a nice foundation for the future, and gives the team a viable replacement for Diggs. Production-wise, while Doubs came in behind Diggs’ 85 reception, 1,013-yard season, the former Packers wideout finished 2025 with 55 receptions for 724 yards, having averaged 13.2 yards per reception, along with six touchdowns.
He’s also significantly younger than Diggs, with Doubs set to be 26 in April, while Diggs will be 33 in November.
The fact that New England locked him up for the next four years also gives them someone to build around. As it currently stands, things could very well look different just one year from now. Both Demario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte are in the final year of their contracts. Mack Hollins is 32 and will turn 33 in September. His contract is also up at the end of 2026.
The big X factors that will likely set the stage for the future are both Kyle Williams and Efton Chism. Williams has received a fair amount of praise so far this offseason from both Eliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel, with the expectation that they feel he’ll get stronger and take a step forward in 2026.
“I think he’s got more in him that he could show,” said Wolf recently. “He’s got to get stronger. I think he’d be the first one to tell you that. But the fact that he was able to play in, I think all 21 games for us, was a testament to his ability to be available.”
Vrabel added that he’s excited to see how Williams develops.
“Excited to see where guys like Kyle Williams go from year one to year two, and just his development and his growth, mentally and physically.”
“I just know that I’m excited about seeing where he goes from year one to year two. It’s a fantastic place. The ability to adjust down the field on a deep ball. He’s got really good release skills. You saw what the crossing route was against Tampa Bay and his ability to create an X-play that was a maybe 10 or 12-yard pass. So I’m not going to sit there and say, ‘Oh, these guys, it’s going to be the number one receiver, edge rusher.’ We’re just excited that he’s with us and what he showed us. And his attitude was fantastic. And we’ll have to help him get to reach his potential.”
Meanwhile, Chism saw limited time in 2025, playing mostly on special teams with a handful of snaps on offense. The undrafted wideout finished with three receptions for 75 yards, and with one full NFL Season under his belt, the hope is that he’ll spend this offseason joining Williams in getting stronger while also building off his own rookie season.
One player who had a tough year was Demario Douglas, who took a significant step back in 2025 from where he finished in 2024. He finished with 66 receptions for 621 yards (9.4 avg) and three touchdowns that season, compared to just 31 catches for 447 yards (14.4 avg) and 3 TDs last year during the regular season.
He saw the most playing time during the regular season in Week 1, before things dropped off after Week 3, when he played in 39.2% of the snaps, the most time he’d see for the remainder of the season.
Douglas recently told Christopher Price of the Boston Globe that there haven’t been any talks on extending him. “I haven’t had any talks about an extension,” said Douglas. “But I would love to stay.”
The club also signed Jeremiah Webb and John Jiles to futures contracts. Both had their moments during the preseason in 2025 (Jiles had 9 catches for 98 yards, Webb had 6 catches for 80 yards and a touchdown), but whether or not the two emerge simply adds to this storyline, with both set to be Exclusive Rights Free Agents after next season.
For now, adding Doubs provides at least one solution for Drake Maye and the offense for the next four years, which certainly appears to be a brilliant move by the front office, given the contract length.
However, the hope is that they’re not done just yet. Karen Guregian of MassLive reported that the club’s signing of Doubs “won’t preclude the Patriots from continuing to pursue A.J. Brown,” which could see things look quite different if that ultimately comes to fruition.
But if not, it will remain a unit with more questions than answers heading into 2026, with the club likely making a move at some point to try and add more depth. They’ll also likely select another player in next month’s draft.
Vrabel admitted that it’s rare to find a quality wideout in free agency, with the draft often being the better solution.
“They’re not going to be there in free agency,” he said. “But you have to try to draft them. I think that’s where a lot of them are. You develop them.
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$70MIL….just to play a game. Crazy.