The New England Patriots continued to move bodies in and out of Gillette Stadium on Tuesday.
On a day that saw the Patriots fill all three of their vacant spots on the 53-man roster with wideouts Corey Coleman and Bennie Fowler, as well as punt returner Kenjob Barner, the Patriots reportedly brought three more noteworthy names in for workouts in running backs Orleans Darkwa, Charles Sims, and veteran wide receiver Brandon Tate.
The trip to the Patriots’ facilities was Darkwa’s second in the last five months, and comes after the 5-foot-11 rusher recorded a career-best 751 yards and five touchdowns in 15 games for the New York Giants a season ago. The focal point of a relatively thin running back corps with the Giants a season ago, Darkwa got the start in 11 of those 15 appearances with New York.
A third-round pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014, Sims came to Foxboro after a 2017 season that saw him rush 95 yards on 21 carries (averaging 4.5 yards per rush), and tally 249 yards and a score on 35 receptions. The 27-year-old’s top rushing season came in 2015, when he rushed for 529 yards on 107 carries, good for a career-best 4.9 yards per carry.
The 30-year-old Tate, meanwhile, visited with the team and coach that drafted him in the third round back in 2009, and after the New Orleans Saints cut him from their training camp less than two weeks ago.
Tate, who has 200 punt returns to his name in his NFL career, is coming off a 2017 season spent with the Buffalo Bills.
But without a roster spot to award any of these Patriot hopefules, the Patriots would need to make a separate roster move to add any of these talents before this Sunday’s 4:25 p.m. meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
