The New England Patriots rebuilt their wide receiver group this offseason, resulting in only two of the currently six players on the roster being holdovers from 2024. Besides returnees Kayshon Boutte and DeMario
Douglas, the team also brought in veteran free agents Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins as well as rookies Kyle Williams and Efton Chism.
Three weeks into the season, the pecking order between them is starting to take shape.
Against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, the team of head coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels mostly relied on a four-man rotation. As he had been all season up to this point, Boutte remained the nominal No. 1; the second and third spot continued to belong to Hollins and Diggs, respectively; Douglas served as a fourth option, with Williams as WR5 and Chism as a healthy scratch clearly further down the depth chart.
While personnel usage and position depth charts are not set in stone and tend to change depending on game plan and opponent, the Patriots have now used that top four in back-to-back games. It is therefore becoming increasingly clear that Boutte is the top option on the depth chart despite only catching three passes combined over the last two games. Meanwhile, Hollins and Diggs — the nominal starting duo — are moved in and out of the lineup alongside him as part of certain looks and packages.
The big unknown moving forward is Douglas. After looking like the Patriots’ most reliable wideout in training camp, he played just one third of available snaps the last two games. He did, however, see five targets against Pittsburgh — most among all wideouts on the roster — even though he hauled in just two of them for 7 total yards and one controversial fourth down miss. Obviously, momentum can change quickly in the NFL, but Douglas’ outlook seems unclear.
Here is our full snap count report from the Patriots’ 21-14 loss at Gillette Stadium.
Offense
Total snaps: 74 | Time on the field: 32:51
QB Drake Maye* (74; 100%), LT Will Campbell* (74; 100%), LG Jared Wilson* (74; 100%), C Garrett Bradbury* (74; 100%), RG Mike Onwenu* (74; 100%), RT Morgan Moses* (74; 100%), TE Hunter Henry* (60; 81%), WR Kayshon Boutte (56; 76%), TE Austin Hooper* (48; 65%), WR Mack Hollins* (46; 62%), WR Stefon Diggs* (39; 53%), RB TreVeyon Henderson (34; 46%), WR DeMario Douglas (29; 39%), RB Rhamondre Stevenson* (27; 36%), RB Antonio Gibson (19; 26%), WR Kyle Williams (9; 12%), FB/TE Jack Westover (3; 4%)
*denotes starter
Besides the wide receiver usage, the first thing that pops out is the running back group. For the first time in his career TreVeyon Henderson was RB1 in terms of snaps played, although that title comes with a bit of an asterisk: under normal circumstances, he likely would not have seen more action than Rhamondre Stevenson and maybe even Antonio Gibson. Both of the veterans losing fumbles, however, led to the team shaking up the group.
Elsewhere, meanwhile, it was business as usual for a Patriots team increasingly relying on multi-tight end sets. Just like last week in Miami, Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper each played over 60 percent of snaps. Jack Westover saw some time as well, but the fullback/tight end hybrid is little more than a package player.
Defense
Total snaps: 54 | Time on the field: 26:00
LB Robert Spillane* (54; 100%), CB Carlton Davis III* (54; 100%), CB Marcus Jones* (54; 100%), S Jaylinn Hawkins* (54; 100%), S Craig Woodson* (52; 96%), ED Harold Landry III* (42; 78%), ED K’Lavon Chaisson* (41; 76%), DT Milton Williams* (38; 70%), DT Christian Barmore* (37; 69%), LB Jack Gibbens (24; 44%), DT Khyiris Tonga (21; 39%), LB Christian Elliss* (19; 35%), S Kyle Dugger (18; 33%), CB Charles Woods (15; 28%), CB Alex Austin* (14; 26%), ED Keion White (13; 24%), ED Anfernee Jennings (12; 22%), DT Cory Durden (12; 22%), DT Joshua Farmer (11; 20%), LB Marte Mapu (9; 17%)
*denotes starter
The difference between the top 11 defenders and the rest of the unit was not quite as pronounced this week, mainly because of two personnel changes that were made on the fly. Starters Christian Elliss and Alex Austin were both benched.
Elliss was pulled after looking shaky as a run defender and adding two more missed tackles to his tally. He now ties Robert Spillane for the team lead in that category with eight, but there is a difference between the two: Spillane took a step forward on Sunday and was not credited with any misses versus Pittsburgh, whereas Elliss’ tackling continues to be insufficient. In fact, his 34.8 percent miss rate is ranked worst in the league among linebackers with at least 10 tackle attempts to their name.
Alex Austin, meanwhile, was pulled after giving up two penalties on five coverage snaps. With Carlton Davis, Marcus Jones and Charles Woods all out-snapping him on the day, and with Christian Gonzalez nearing a return, it seems that the third-year man might have seen his last start for a while.
Outside of those two players, there were no significant surprises. Keion White’s 24 percent playing time share might look noteworthy — the lowest of his career for a game he was available from start to finish — but he was coming off an illness and entered the weekend as questionable to play.
Special Teams
Total snaps: 17 | Time on the field: 1:09
LB Jack Gibbens (15; 88%), S Brenden Schooler (15; 88%), S Dell Pettus (14; 82%), ED Anfernee Jennings (11; 65%), LB Mark Robinson (11; 65%), CB Charles Woods (11; 65%), S Kyle Dugger (10; 59%), LB/PP Marte Mapu (8; 47%), RB/KR Antonio Gibson (7; 41%), FB Jack Westover (7; 41%), LB Christian Elliss (7; 41%), ED Keion White (6; 35%), S Craig Woodson (6; 35%), ED K’Lavon Chaisson (5; 29%), K Andy Borregales (5; 29%), WR Mack Hollins (4; 24%), RB/KR TreVeyon Henderson (4; 24%), DT Milton Williams (4; 24%), CB/PR Marcus Jones (4; 24%), CB Kobee Minor (4; 24%), LB Robert Spillane (3; 18%), P/H Bryce Baringer (3; 18%), LS Julian Ashby (3; 18%), TE Austin Hooper (2; 12%), OT Will Campbell (2; 12%), OL Jared Wilson (2; 12%), OL Mike Onwenu (2; 12%), OT Marcus Bryant (2; 12%), OT Vederian Lowe (2; 12%), OL Ben Brown (2; 12%), S Jaylinn Hawkins (1; 6%)
There were some changes to New England’s special teams operation relative to the first two weeks of the season. Anfernee Jennings and Mark Robinson were part of all four return and coverage units on Sunday alongside Jack Gibbens and Brenden Schooler. Marte Mapu, meanwhile, was removed from kickoff coverage and Elijah Ponder made inactive altogether.
Looking ahead, Robinson will be a name to watch. With all three of his standard practice squad elevations now used and the Patriots currently still having an open spot on the roster, he looks like a candidate for a promotion to the 53-man team.
Did not play
QB Joshua Dobbs
Just like the last two weeks, the Patriots again elected to use all but on member of their game day roster. Backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs spent a third straight Sunday on the sidelines.
Inactive
CB Christian Gonzalez, QB3 Tommy DeVito, DT Eric Gregory, OL Caedan Wallace, WR Efton Chism III, ED Elijah Ponder
No surprises on the list of inactives. Christian Gonzalez is nearing a return, but he was ruled out on the eve of the game due to the hamstring injury that had kept him out since late July and only allowed for limited practice participation this week. The rest are regulars on the inactives list, with Elijah Ponder the only new face: the team opted to activate Anfernee Jennings over him as the fourth edge linebacker.
