How Patriots’ Jerod Mayo Explained Interesting Change To Depth Chart

The wide receiver depth chart wasn’t the only lineup tweak when the New England Patriots defeated the Chicago Bears on Sunday.

New England also made a change to their running back depth chart with JaMycal Hasty out-snapping Antonio Gibson. Both, however, saw far fewer snaps than Rhamondre Stevenson.

Patriots first-year head coach Jerod Mayo downplayed the significance one day after New England’s 19-3 victory at Soldier Field.

“I would just say all three of those backs bring something different to the table,” Mayo told reporters Monday, per a team-provided transcript. “Again, just the last couple of weeks, it was more of a Hasty game than a Gibby (Antonio Gibson) game.”

Hasty turned seven touches in 24 yards while Gibson rushed for 26 yards on five carries. Stevenson shouldered the load on the ground with 20 carries for 74 yards as New England’s running game performed better after a struggle-filled stretch.

“Look, that is a week-after-week discussion, not only at the back spot, but at multiple positions on this team,” Mayo said.

Another one of those position groups is wide receiver. The Patriots made a flurry of tweaks in recent weeks with veteran wideout Kendrick Bourne active but not playing Sunday.

Kayshon Boutte led all wideouts in snaps (97%) with veteran K.J. Osborn receiving a noticeable uptick (45%) ahead of DeMario Douglas (42%) and Ja’Lynn Polk (41%).

“My goal as the head coach is to put the players out there that give us the best chance to win,” Mayo said, deflecting why Bourne was jumped by others.

We’ll see if it truly is a week-to-week assessment when the Patriots host the Los Angeles Rams at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.