Unlike 37 of his teammates, Quintayvious Hutchins was not asked to return his iPad ahead of the NFL roster cutdown deadline on Sunday. The New England Patriots had decided to keep the rookie outside linebacker on their 53-man roster.
They just never actually told him.
One of the quirks of cutdown day, after all, is that only players to get released are typically informed of their fate. Others are not, which might come as a surprise to first-year players such as Hutchins. He instead found out that he had
made the team by scrolling through social media.
“[An] Instagram post, when they posted the 53-man roster, that’s how I really found out,” he told the media at his New locker this week. “I saw the 53-man roster and was like, ‘Oh damn, I really made it.’”
Having spent his entire five-year college career at Boston College, Hutchins made the move to Foxborough as the 247th overall pick in this year’s draft. Given his late-round status and the competition in the room, his spot on the eventual roster was not guaranteed.
However, the 23-year-old had a solid training camp and saw a steady uptick in quality reps along the Patriots’ defensive edge. This, plus a preseason performance that saw him register eight tackles and a sack as well as three special teams takedowns, set the stage for him to ultimately make the team. Together with Dre’Mont Jones, Elijah Ponder and fellow rookie Gabe Jacas, he now is one of only four outside linebackers on the team.
With that first step now taken, Hutchins is already looking ahead.
“The job is not done. Continue to prove myself to earn a role on the team and just be dominant every chance I get,” he said. “You have to come in, work, keep your head up, and keep going.”
