With Kayshon Boutte dealing with an injury, the Patriots are beefing up their receiver depth by adding the son of a legend.
According to a source, the Patriots are signing wide receiver Brenden Rice to their practice squad. The 6-foot-3 receiver is the son of NFL Hall-of-Famer, Jerry Rice. This move comes after Boutte suffered a hamstring injury in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons.
On Monday, Mike Vrabel said the starting receiver wouldn’t be available to start this week.
“Kayshon’s going to be day-to-day,” Vrabel said. “But I don’t see him practicing early in the week. We’ll see where that goes late in the week, but Kyle should be ready to go here for us.”
Rice was a standout receiver in college at Colorado and USC. In 2023, he finished with 791 yards and 12 touchdowns for the Trojans. Rice finished his collegiate career with 21 total receiving touchdowns. He entered the NFL as a seventh-round pick by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2024. Rice appeared in three games that season as a rookie, playing three offensive snaps and 10 special teams snaps.
Rice spent this past offseason in Los Angeles, but was waived at the end of training camp.
The Patriots had Rice in for a tryout on Sept. 24. Now, he’ll add depth with the offense missing an important receiver. Boutte is second on the team in receiving yards (431) and leads the Patriots with 5 receiving touchdowns.
Rice joins receivers Jeremiah Webb and John Jiles on the practice squad. The Patriots also have receivers Stefon Diggs, DeMario Douglas, Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams, and Efton Chism III on the active roster.
Jordan Schultz was the first to report the news of Rice’s signing.
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