The New England Patriots worked the waiver wire this week like they were gunning for a fantasy football title.
The Patriots claimed wide receiver Leonard Hankerson off waivers from the Atlanta Falcons and offensive tackle LaAdrian Waddle from the Detroit Lions. Hankerson and Waddle are former starters and could give the Patriots a boost in positions of need.
“He’s been a good player, and he was available,” Belichick said of Hankerson. “It’s not that frequent that you see players like that available at this time of year, so we claimed him.”
Hankerson adds size and speed to a Patriots wide receiver corps that has struggled since Julian Edelman went down with a broken foot. The Patriots have had injuries and issues allowing pressure at offensive tackle this season. Waddle has played in 30 games, starting 24, since entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Texas Tech.
“Waddle is, again, another young player, third year, started at tackle for the Lions, came off an injury this year,” Belichick said. “We feel like he’s a very talented guy and a solid guy. We’ll see how it goes. Again, it’s hard to find guys like that any time of the year. It’s especially hard to find them now. You know who, at times, we’ve played with at tackle — we ended up with Bryan Stork playing tackle — so this is an experienced tackle who is still young and I think has a lot of good football in front of him, but we’ll see how he fits into our system.”
The Patriots signed cornerback Leonard Johnson last week after he was waived from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ injured reserve. They also added nose tackle Ishmaa’ily Kitchen this week. Johnson shined in his Patriots debut Sunday night against the Houston Texans. The Patriots needed additional depth at defensive tackle after Dominique Easley was placed on injured reserve.
“He’s a young player, but still a pretty experienced player,” Belichick said about Kitchen. “Kind of a little bit light at defensive tackle depth-wise and, again, he has some experience, which I think at this time of year it’s hard to find players that fit into that category, which Hankerson does, which Waddle does. We’re kind of fortunate there. A strong run player, big stout guy, moves fairly well, not a lot of length.”
It’s unlikely Hankerson, Waddle or Kitchen will play a big role Sunday against the Tennessee Titans, but Johnson wasn’t expected to start at cornerback less than a week after being signed, either.
Thumbnail photo via Brett Davis/USA TODAY Sports Images
