With Romeo Doubs already signed in free agency and a trade for A.J. Brown in the works, the New England Patriots decided against selecting any wide receivers in the 2026 NFL Draft. They did, however, add four players at the position as undrafted rookies.
Among them was James Madison’s Nick DeGennaro, a speedy wideout set to compete for a depth spot on the team.
Hard facts
Name: Nick DeGennaro
Position: Wide receiver
Jersey number: 23
Opening day age: 25 (12/29/2000)
Measurements: 5’11 1/2”, 196 lbs, 30 1/2” arm length,
74” wingspan, 8 7/8” hand size, 4.40s 40-yard dash, 6.99s 3-cone drill, 4.22s short shuttle, 36 1/2” vertical jump, 10’1” broad jump, 12 bench press reps, 7.98 Relative Athletic Score
Experience
NFL: New England Patriots (2026-) | College: Maryland (2020-21), Richmond (2022-24), James Madison (2025)
A multi-sport athlete at the Hun School in Princeton, NJ, DeGennaro was a standout both on the football field and the track. He eventually focused on the former, though, and as a three-star recruit drew interest from multiple FBS-level colleges. He opted for Maryland over offers from UMass and Northern Illinois, but ended up playing only seven games over two seasons. His production — three catches for 42 yards — all came in his debut.
And so, DeGennaro chose to enter the transfer portal. Within a month, he committed to Richmond and made an impact from his first season on. In all, he spent three years with the Spiders and in 35 games caught 162 total passes for 2,002 yards and 16 touchdowns.
DeGennaro could have entered the NFL after his final year in Richmond, but instead opted to take advantage of another year of eligibility. He transferred to James Madison, where he added 14 games, 28 catches, 500 yards and five more touchdowns to his college résumé. Those numbers did not help him get drafted, but they did pave the way for him to end up in New England as a UDFA.
Scouting report
Strengths: DeGennaro is a natural hands catcher who combines a solid catch radius with some impressive concentration and ball tracking skills. Despite lacking standout height or length, he has shown he can make catches outside his natural frame and is able and willing to contort his body to get the job done. He also possesses some really good long speed and quickness as well as a feel for tempo; he has shown some variance in his routes. DeGennaro’s contact balance also has been on display, as evidenced by the 35 missed tackles he forced in what effectively amounts to four seasons of regular college action.
Weaknesses: DeGennaro doesn’t stand out from a size perspective, and as a result of his frame remains a work in progress as a blocker on run and screen plays. He also at times does not play as fast as his clocked time (4.4s) would suggest, and needs to improve his route-running overall to maximize his speed. While he does incorporate fakes, there is some wasted movement in his steps slowing him down especially through his breaks. He furthermore is not the most physical player at the catch point, which in turn also raises questions about his ability to compete against press-man coverage of the NFL variety.
2025 review
Stats: 14 games (13 starts) | 673 offensive snaps, 4 special teams snaps | 49 targets, 28 catches (57.1%), 500 receiving yards (17.9/catch), 5 TDs, 1 drop | 1 carry, 5 rushing yards | 1-of-1, 50 passing yards | 0 punt returns, 1 fair catch | 2 penalties (incl. 0 declined/offsetting)
Season recap: After his 2024 season at Richmond came to a premature end, DeGennaro was also not necessarily blessed with injury luck after transferring to James Madison. He got banged up during spring practices and later blamed the undisclosed ailment as well as underdeveloped chemistry with his quarterback for his underwhelming production early in 2025.
Over the Dukes’ first six games — i.e. the first half of the regular season — he caught only eight passes for 97 yards and went catch-less in three of those contests. He did manage to improve his statistics over the second half of the season, catching 20 passes for 403 yards and all five of his touchdowns during that span.
His production still came in spurts, which partially was due to James Madison’s run-heavy offense. Nonetheless, a significant part of his output came out of three games: he went 3-106-2 against Old Dominion, 3-101-2 versus Texas State the following week, and 5-90-1 versus Oregon.
That third game was probably DeGennaro’s most notable outing of the season. Not only did he post a solid stat-line against the fifth-ranked school in the country, including a 47-yard catch-and-run touchdown that saw him break two tackle attempts, but he also registered a 50-yard completion on a double pass and had a 5-yard carry.
Despite James Madison falling 51-34, DeGennaro’s college career therefore ended on a high individual note.
2026 preview
Position: Z/F-receiver | Ability: Camp body/Practice squad candidate | Contract: Signed through 2028 (2029 RFA)
What will be his role? DeGennaro was predominately used as an outside receiver at all three schools he played for during his college career, and the expectation is that he will play a similar role in the NFL. Given his skillset, he projects more favorably as a Z- or positionally-flexible F-receiver than an X, and as such would compete for a depth spot behind the likes of Romeo Doubs, Mack Hollins and Kyle Williams.
What is his growth potential? With DeGennaro already 25 years old, he is further along in his development than other rookie players. As a consequence, his growth curve is unlikely to be as steep either. There are still plenty of areas for him to improve, but from a physical and mental perspective he already appears to be close to his ceiling, which in turn might also limit what he can become as a pro.
Does he have positional versatility? Even though he has some pro-caliber tools, DeGennaro was used in a relatively limited fashion during his college career; he spent most of his time as a perimeter receiver who only occasionally kicked inside. He did serve as a part-time punt and kickoff returner, but only ran back 10 combined kicks, averaging 10.3 yards on nine punts and gaining no yards on his lone kickoff return.
What is his salary cap situation? DeGennaro joined the Patriots on a classic three-year UDFA deal that is low on guarantees. In 2026, he is playing on a $885,000 base salary that includes a $25,000 salary guarantee as well as a fully-guaranteed $3,333 signing bonus proration. The salary guarantee could be seen as a pre-payment for a practice squad spot and together with the signing bonus proration makes up the entirety of DeGennaro’s cap impact at the moment; his base salary is not high enough to qualify him for Top 51 status.
How safe is his roster spot? An undrafted rookie, DeGennaro is firmly on the roster bubble and needs to prove himself not just as a depth receiving option but possibly also in the kicking game. Even if he does so, however, a logjam higher up on the depth chart might make it hard for him to crack the top-level rotation and seriously compete for a roster spot. At this point in time, the practice squad looks like his most realistic landing spot unless there is a shakeup involving fellow wideouts such as Kayshon Boutte or DeMario Douglas.
Summary: Tied with second-year man Kyle Williams, DeGennaro is the fastest wide receiver on the Patriots’ roster in terms of his pre-draft 40-yard time. That does not guarantee him a spot on the roster — as we have seen time and again, physical attributes are only one part of the story — but could allow him to find a niche as a developmental backup and possible return man, a role similar to the one played by then-rookie Efton Chism in 2025.
What do you think about Nick DeGennaro heading into the 2026 season? Will he earn a role? Will he make the team over the other UDFA wideouts? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.
