Romeo Doubs entered Gillette Stadium on Thursday to officially sign his four-year contract with the team. Before he could put pen to paper, however, he needed to put the team-issue iPad with the offensive playbook loaded on it.
As the receiver then joined fellow free-agent addition to the GP Atrium at Gillette to be officially introduced as Patriots, the iPad came with him.
“I don’t know if you guys saw him up here, like, he was already in the playbook. He was on his iPad, learning the formations while
I was trying to get him to sign his contract this morning. So, it was pretty cool,” Patriots executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said.
After parting ways with Stefon Diggs this offseason, New England turned to Doubs in order to help replace that production. Doubs is coming off the best season of his career, catching 55 passes for 724 yards and six touchdowns. His best game of the year then came in the playoffs as he hauled in eight receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown.
Coming from the Green Bay Packers, Doubs primarily lined up on the outside but has shown the ability to win and separate from all over the field. That versatility will be a welcomed addition to Josh McDaniels’ offense.
“I think he has a really cool skill set,” Wolf said. “I think he can play outside, inside, he blocks, he can play Z, he can play X. He’s good on the short routes, he’s good on the deep routes, he’s good with the ball in his hands. He has a lot of route variance that we liked — strong for the ball. There’s some things that he can improve upon that we’ll try to help him with. But overall, just the competitor, the person.”
Doubs now joins a wide receiver depth chart that includes Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas, Kyle Williams and Efton Chism III. New England may not be done adding at the position, but the newest acquisition projects to be Drake Maye’s top target.
That is a role Doubs never truly held with the Packers, and while he understands he has big shoes to fill replacing Diggs, it’s a role he says will come naturally if it develops.
“I’ll be really honest with you, I would love to stay true to just understanding where I am and coming into a new system under our offensive coordinator,” Doubs said. “And yeah, I wouldn’t really specify that I’m gonna go in with this amount of targets or that amount of targets, because I’ve come from a place where that didn’t really mean much, and I give credit, obviously, to New England welcoming me with open arms and Green Bay just based off their history and the situation that we were in while I was there.”
For Doubs, signing a four-year, $68 million contract in free agency to join the Patriots was an opportunity he could not pass up on.
“I know I’m going to be around a great group of guys. Going to be around a great young quarterback in Drake, great coaching staff in Coach Vrabel and Josh [McDaniels],” he said. “And even just from a defensive standpoint, I know I’m going to come across some great people, and I just look forward to it.”
