So who did the Patriots sign that went undrafted? First up is running back DeShaun Fenwick out of Oregon State. He played three years at South Carolina before transferring to Oregon State where he rushed 96 times for 515 yards.
Next up is cornerback Kaleb Ford-Dement out of Texas State University. Now in the era of college free agency, Ford went all over the place from Kilgore College to Old Dominion to Washington State and finally Texas State. In 11 games started with Texas State he had 3 picks and 32 tackles.
The Patriots also signed UTEP offensive tackle Zuri Henry. He spent 6 years at UTEP and started 11 games last year for the Miners. Offensive line depth is never a bad thing....as long as he doesn't suck.
New England then signed Georgia State linebacker Jontrey Hunter. Hunter played 6 years with GS and was All-Sun Belt Conference in 2023 with 96 tackles last year.
The Patriots also signed Arkansas defensive end John Morgan after he spent 5 years with Pittsburgh before signing with Arkansas prior to 2023. He had a tough time getting on the field for the Razorbacks despite going 4-8 last year due to not being able to crack the depth chart. He did get 15 tackles when he did play though.
The youngest of the bunch signed was Troy University safety Dell Pettus. Now this was an interesting signing because Pettus started 61 consecutive games for the Trojans. Last year the Trojans went 11-3 and won the Sun Belt Championship game over Appalachian State before losing the Birmingham Bowl to Duke.
The biggest "name" the Patriots signed was LSU center Charles Turner. He was the starting center for last year's 10-3 Tigers team blocking for Washington Commanders first round pick Jayden Daniels. He started 25 total games for the Tigers including the ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Wisconsin. One of the reasons he went undrafted was he lacks muscle mass, which can be corrected if he spent enough time in the weight room.
The Patriots also signed Alabama State cornerback Mikey Victor. He bounced around from Ventura to UNLV before settling on Alabama State the last two years. He had 55 tackles and 3 picks for the Hornets as well.
Last but not least is the Patriots signed Joe Milton's tight end at Tennessee University, Jacob Warren. Warren caught 16 balls for 191 yards and four touchdowns last year for the Vols as they went 9-4 and shut out Iowa 35-0 in the Citrus Bowl. He had 53 total receptions for 607 yards and eight touchdowns.
So there's most of your rookie class heading into June's mini-camp and July's training camp. There's going to be 90 bodies there and there's only going to be 53 at the end. One of the good things about former head coach Bill Bellichick was finding talent in rookie free agents. Ben-Jarvis Green Ellis, Malcolm Butler, Jakobi Meyers and more all contributed despite not being drafted. Now can new head coach Jerrod Mayo and personnel director Eliot Wolf score in this rookie free agent class? That remains to be seen. A lot of guys go undrafted because they played in smaller schools like Victor, Hunter and Pettus while others didn't get the press their teammates got like Warren and Turner. Doesn't mean they won't be able to crack the roster but it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if they didn't. Again, there's only going to be 53 guys left at the end of Training Camp and who knows what is going to get signed before, during and after. Still, some of these guys may not have ever played football again if they didn't get signed so at least they made it this far.
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