With just days to go before the New England Patriots take the field at Gillette Stadium for their first playoff game in four years, and first home postseason contest since 2019, the six-time Super Bowl-winning franchise is still looking to add depth to its wide receiver corps.
An abdominal injury to 32-year-old Mack Hollins cut his first season with the Patriots short and will keep the 550-yard receiver sidelined at least until the AFC Championship Game if New England gets that far.
In Hollinsâ absence, undrafted free agent rookie Efton Chism III has received a shot at starting games and has caught three passes from MVP-candidate quarterback Drake Maye for 75 yards.
But according to longtime ESPN Patriots insider Mike Reiss, the Patriots have not stopped looking to bring in reinforcements for their receiving unit, holding invited tryouts on Tuesday for two candidates, including a former New York Jets UDFA who holds several receiving records for the Monmouth Hawks of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, the collegiate gameâs second tier.
Jets Undrafted Free Agent Gets Shot With Patriots
The Patriots brought in 24-year-old Dymere Miller for a tryout on Tuesday, ahead of Sunday nightâs first-round playoff game at Gillette against the Los Angeles Chargers. The 5-foot-11, 184-pound Miller went undrafted out of Rutgers in 2025, but was signed by the Jets as a free agent immediately following the draft.
According to a scouting report by SB Nation Jets correspondent Bent Double, Miller âis a former track athlete with blazing speed that shows up on film. He ran 4.32 at his pro day and his explosiveness and agility numbers were both also good.â
The prospectâs speed âmakes him an obvious candidate to be a deep threat and he has made plenty of plays on deep balls in his college career,â according to the SB Nation report.
Millerâs 1,200-Yard Season Was a School Best
Before transferring to Rutgers for his final season of college ball, Miller was one of the greatest receivers in Monmouth history.
âIn his third year at Monmouth, he was a Walter Payton Award finalist (the FCS version of the Heisman Trophy),â recounted Evan Cormier of NESN.com. âIn that historic season, he set school records for single-season receptions with 90, single-season receiving yards with 1,293 and a single-game record when he recorded 333 receiving yards in a loss to UNH.â
The Jets did not give Miller much of a chance, limiting him mainly to special teams in the preseason, then waiving the former first-team All-American during the roster cutdown process.
Patriots Also Gave Shot to Former Bengals WR
At the same tryout where they got a look at Miller, the Patriots also hosted 25-year-old Cole Burgess, another UDFA who spent all of 2024 on the Cincinnati Bengals practice squad. Burgess is a 6-foot-1, 198-pounder out of SUNY-Cortland, an NCAA Division III football program.
Called âone of the draftâs most fascinating WRsâ by The Athletic in 2024, Burgess led the Cortland Red Dragons in 2023 to their first-ever victory in the Alonzo Stagg Bowl, Division III footballâs national championship.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the Patriots had not announced whether either Miller or Burgess would be signed, but with Chism III on the active roster, the New England practice squad still has a vacancy to be filled.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Patriots Eye Record Holding Ex-Jets Wide Receiver as Playoff Addition appeared first on Heavy Sports.
