Nate Washington

The Patriots signed wide receivers Chris Hogan and Nate Washington as free agents this offseason and drafted two more wideouts in April, giving the team a variety of options to go with their holdovers from last year’s team.

We’re still in the early stages of camp, but coach Bill Belichick likes how the competition is coming together. Belichick said on Sirius XM NFL Radio with Jim Miller and Pat Kirwan that he thinks the battle for spots on the 53-man roster will be as or more heated than any other in his time with the team.

“I think our competition at receiver is good, it’s probably as good as it’s been since I’ve been here,” Belichick said.

Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola would seem to be secure in their roles at the top of the depth chart and Hogan seems a good bet to join them. If that’s the case, Washington, fourth-rounder Malcolm Mitchell, Keshawn Martin and the others would be trying to provide other skills to add to the mix. Don't forget, the team acquired Martellus Bennett to pair with Rob Gronkowski at TE and they plan to use a lot of two-TE sets.