Patriots informed WR DeVante Parker that they are releasing him Wednesday and he now has been given permission to talk to other teams.

Related Players: JuJu Smith-Schuster, Kendrick Bourne, Pop Douglas, Tyquan Thornton

New England has a lot of work to do to make this WR room approachable from a fantasy standpoint, and this will go a little bit of the way to clearing room for new pieces. Expect the Patriots to target at least one pass-catcher in the NFL Draft.

WR/PR Pop Douglas has cleared concussion protocol, per Bill Belichick.

Barring a setback in Friday’s practice, the path is clear for Douglas’ return after missing the last two games.

Related Players: Tyquan Thornton, DeVante Parker

The Patriots had an offensive explosion in Week 14, scoring 21 points. Which is a funny sentence to type in 2023. Douglas could very well return to the WR1 role in New England, but that only makes him a FLEX option in deep leagues.

Patriots ruled out for Thursday night's game vs. the Steelers: RB Rhamondre Stevenson, WR Demario Douglas, WR Kayshon Boutte and OL Riley Reiff.

Related Players: Ezekiel Elliott, JaMycal Hasty, DeVante Parker, Tyquan Thornton, JuJu Smith-Schuster

Phew. An offense that needs all the help/luck they can get is dug even deeper with the absence of some key pieces. Ezekiel Elliott should get a huge percentage of the running back work, but even that is likely to keep him in the low RB2 considerations.

Starting any Patriots wide receivers should be a stay-away at this point, though Hunter Henry can be considered a de facto TE streamer with the team rolling out an extreme lack of consistent options.

WR Demario Douglas did enter concussion protocol, per source. He and RB/WR Ty Montgomery were the only players missing at Patriots practice.

Related Players: DeVante Parker, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Tyquan Thornton

Douglas was trending towards being the only bright spot on the Patriots offense, but it's clear that they're not meant to have nice things in the 2023 season. Douglas has 133 yards and 12 catches on 18 targets over the last two weeks, but he may have a hard time suiting up in Week 13. Parker is the strongest bet to receive a higher target share if he misses, but New England is currently rotating three quarterbacks in at practice, hinting towards more bad game script.

Jalen Reagor, rookie Demario Douglas and JuJu Smith-Schuster are now the top three on the depth chart, with 2022 second-round pick Tyquan Thornton (a healthy scratch Sunday) and 2023 sixth-rounder Kayshon Boutte (inactive since the season opener) next in line.

The 5-8, 192-pound Douglas is a quick slot receiver whose playing time has spiked the past two weeks (78 of 113 snaps).

It's not a great WR group, but, as they say, someone needs to catch the ball. The story said Reagor has drawn some praise, but we've all been down that road before. If he's on your wire, Douglas could be someone to stash away at this point, especially with his increased playing time recently. The story went on to say Douglas is often sent in motion before the snap, making him a threat as a runner with the possibility of taking a handoff, and has been targeted 13 times the past two weeks.

Patriots WRs JuJu Smith-Schuster and Demario Douglas and OL Riley Reiff and Cole Strange are all out for Sunday's game vs. Las Vegas.

Related Players: DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton

The Patriots offense is hardly in a position to be missing any of their players, but it's not as if they're getting much out of Juju anyways (14-86 on 24 targets). Thornton should get some extra run in Week 6, but none of the WRs should be taken seriously in fantasy until we see some sort of rebound.

DeVante Parker suffered a knee sprain on the first play in Sunday's win. If he misses time, it'll likely only be one game. Could be back after the Week 10 bye.

Related Players: Jakobi Meyers, Tyquan Thornton, Kendrick Bourne

Regardless of whether or not Parker is in the lineup, the Patriots passing game has a capped ceiling, with Mac Jones keeping most of his targets around the line of scrimmage. His 4.7 aDOT in Week 8 is about as low as you will see in an NFL game. Jakobi Meyers has blossomed into a solid WR2 for fantasy, while Tyquan Thornton could see some increased usage, though likely not enough to consider starting him in lineups.

Bill Belichick said this morning on The Greg Hill Show that every Patriots player except Tyquan Thornton, who's on IR, "should have a shot" to play Sunday vs. Miami.

That includes Ty Montgomery and Isaiah Wynn, who are dealing with injuries.

"Hopefully they'll all make it."

Related players: Damien Harris, Rhamondre Stevenson

It's a situation to watch heading into Week 1. If Monty is active and plays, it would most likely cut into Stevenson's fantasy production in the passing game and perhaps two minute drills. Montgomery is a risky play because of his limited role though.

With WRs Tyquan Thornton and Kendrick Bourne either hurt or sliding down the depth chart, Nelson Agholor has ascended throughout the summer.

Agholor's first season with New England ended with him accruing under 500 yards but he has built chemistry with quarterback Mac Jones while other pieces of the depth chart have moved backwards. Graff concludes his blurb claiming that Agholor could end up as Jones' number one receiver.

Patriots rookie WR Tyquan Thornton suffered a collarbone injury during Friday’s preseason game against the Panthers.

The injury is not expected to be season-ending, but it does put a damper on what was a strong start to his NFL career. Thornton scored a touchdown in his first preseason game against the Giants. He had one catch for 13 yards before exiting the game.