Patriots Sign Two Rookies, Including Undrafted Cornerback, Waive One

The New England Patriots slightly reshuffled their 90-man roster one day before mandatory minicamp begins Tuesday.

The Patriots waived/injured undrafted rookie defensive end Corey Vereen and signed undrafted rookie cornerback William Likely. The Patriots also signed third-round draft pick and offensive tackle Tony Garcia. Only fellow third-round pick Derek Rivers, a defensive end, remains unsigned from the Patriots’ four-man draft class.

Vereen will revert to injured reserve if he clears waivers. The Patriots had given Vereen, a Tennessee product, $12,500 guaranteed at signing.

Likely is 5-foot-7, 180 pounds and coming off a torn ACL suffered in October. He was a versatile weapon at Maryland, playing offense, defense and special teams.

He finished his college career with 229 tackles, 16.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, seven interceptions, two touchdowns, 29 passes defended, five forced fumbles and one fumble recovery on defense. He had 87 kick returns for 2,233 yards with two touchdowns and 67 punt returns for 875 yards with four touchdowns. He also added 13 career rushes for 108 yards and six catches for 12 yards.

Likely joins Malcolm Butler, Stephon Gilmore, Jonathan Jones, Eric Rowe, Cyrus Jones, Justin Coleman, D.J. Killings, Dwayne Thomas and Kenny Moore on the Patriots’ cornerback depth chart. Killings, Thomas and Moore also are undrafted rookies.

Thumbnail photo via Jeffrey Becker/USA TODAY Sports Images