Could This Ex-Patriots Draft Pick Return After Jets Release?

At the end of the 2019 preseason, the New England Patriots didn’t have room on their roster for Braxton Berrios.

The second-year slot receiver had been hounded by injuries, and the Patriots couldn’t justify keeping him over Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski, both of whom had popped as undrafted rookies.

So, New England cut Berrios, hoping to slip him onto their practice squad once he cleared waivers. But that never happened. The New York Jets claimed the 2018 sixth-round draft pick, and he proceeded to play the next four seasons in East Rutherford, N.J.

Now, Berrios’ time in New York is coming to an end. The Jets plan to release the 27-year-old, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Thursday, after the sides failed to reach an agreement on a contract restructure.

With the Patriots potentially in need of a new slot receiver, could Berrios reunite with the team that drafted him?

Meyers is set to hit free agency next Wednesday, and though he’s expressed a desire to stay, he’ll be the best receiver available and might fetch a more lucrative contract offer from another team. Meyers has been both the Patriots’ No. 1 receiver and their top option in the slot over the last three seasons, and they don’t have an obvious successor for the latter on their roster.

Perhaps Berrios could fill that role. He’s coming off a quiet season (18 catches, 145 yards, no touchdowns) as the No. 4 option in an erratic Jets passing attack, but he posted a more respectable 46-431-2 receiving line in 2021 while catching passes from Zach Wilson.

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When the Patriots drafted Berrios, he perfectly fit the profile of the undersized (5-foot-9, 190 pounds), uber-quick (6.72-second three-cone drill) slot target that New England’s offense featured throughout Tom Brady’s tenure. His rookie season was wiped out by an injury and his second training camp was uninspiring, but head coach Bill Belichick thought highly of the Miami product, even calling then-Jets coach Adam Gase after Berrios was claimed to praise him.

“Gase actually told me that story toward the end of that season,” Berrios said last January in an interview with Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast. “We were sitting in a walkthrough on Saturday, and something came up and he said, ‘By the way, I’ve never told you this story.’ And he told me that story.

“Belichick called him, and he thought it was about Demaryius Thomas at the time, because Demaryius Thomas was with me in New England at the time and then he came over to New York. And he said (Belichick) didn’t talk about Demaryius at all. He said, ‘Hey, man, you really got a good one (in Berrios). We wish we could have kept him.’ And it’s cool, obviously, hearing that from Bill Belichick. But yeah, what can you do.”

Berrios was scheduled to hit the market last offseason, but he wound up re-signing with the Jets before free agency opened.

If Belichick still believes in Berrios’ potential and new coordinator Bill O’Brien views him as a fit for his offensive scheme, he’d be a low-cost backup plan in the event that New England cannot re-sign Meyers. He hasn’t come close to matching Meyers’ production and certainly would not be the elite pass-catcher this offense has lacked in recent years, but he could be an intriguing flier as the Patriots retool their receiving corps.

Berrios also offers kick- and punt-return ability — he was a first-team All-Pro in the former in 2021 — but the Patriots don’t have a need there with budding star Marcus Jones under contract for the next three seasons.

The Patriots currently have receivers DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton, Lynn Bowden and Tre Nixon locked up for the upcoming season, with Jones also chipping in as a two-way player. Meyers and Nelson Agholor are impending free agents.