Why Patriots veteran is a candidate for release

Bourne arrived in New England coming off of an average first four years in San Francisco, though for an undrafted player, those four years were pretty impressive. He averaged about 44 catches for 442 yards and 3 touchdowns over that time. After losing veteran Julian Edelman to retirement and Damiere Byrd to free agency, the Patriots were looking to free agent signings like Bourne and Nelson Agholor to work with Jakobi Meyers and a struggling N’Keal Harry.

After coming off then-career highs in catches (49) and receiving yards (667), Bourne had a true breakout season in New England, setting new career highs in catches (55) and receiving yards (800) while matching his career high in touchdowns (5). Despite Aghlolor’s average annual salary ($13M) more than doubling his ($5M), Bourne proved to be a clear WR2 behind Meyers.

As the production of Jones and the team’s other passers fell, Bourne’s did, too. It didn’t help that a veteran addition in DeVante Parker arrived and surpassed he and Agholor on the depth chart, demoting him to WR3. What’s worse, a promising contract year in 2023, one that saw him emerging as WR1 over Parker, a rookie Demario Douglas, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and others, came to a premature end when Bourne tore his ACL in Week 8.

The Patriots made a respectable move in the following offseason, re-signing Bourne to a new three-year deal with a slight raise despite the fact that he was going to be coming back from the season-ending injury. On his new deal, he missed the first four games of the season and took a couple of weeks to get going, but when he finally got back to the field, it had become clear that he had fallen behind youngsters Douglas and Kayshon Boutte on the depth chart.

In fact, the writing on the wall that Bourne might not have a place in New England anymore was so clear that a number of teams reached out before the trade deadline in hopes of acquiring Bourne. The Patriots, though, held onto the veteran for the remainder of the season. Then, in the offseason, the team signed a huge free agent in veteran wideout Stefon Diggs and another veteran in Mack Hollins. Additionally, the Patriots drafted Kyle Williams in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

At this point, Bourne is sitting at WR5, maybe WR5. Diggs, Douglas, and Boutte are likely comfortably ahead of him on the depth chart, while Williams could easily be, as well, if he lives up to his draft stock. That leaves Bourne competing with Hollins for the honors of being the fifth or sixth receiver on the depth chart.

While that’s not disqualifying by itself, the fact that Bourne carries cap hits of $7.7M and $7.9M over the next two years makes it a lot harder to keep him on the roster if he’s not going to be contributing as a starter. Luckily for New England, Bourne’s second contract with the team included a potential out after 2024. With this escape hatch, the Patriots can release Bourne with only $2.8M of dead cap split evenly over the next two years, while giving them $12.8M of cap savings over that time.

It’s a little late to try to trade him at this point in time, and there’s always a chance that Bourne proves himself by moving up the depth chart. In reality, the amount of new competition for snaps coupled with cap impact he holds over the rest of his contract puts Bourne in an unenviable position. He many need to have the camp of his life to keep from being a cap casualty in the next few months.