Patriots sign Boston College tight end Jake Burt
By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
After 10 selections and 11 undrafted free agent signings on Saturday, the New England Patriots continued to restock their roster on Sunday. They even reached into their own backyard for another tight end, signing Lynnfield, Mass. native Jake Burt.
Born in Canada but a Massachusetts native since he was three years old, the 6-foot-3 tight end will make his NFL jump to New England after a four-year run at Boston College. That run at Chestnut Hill certainly had its up and downs, too. After tearing his ACL as a sophomore in 2016, Burt had to work his way back and did so in a rotation with Tommy Sweeney (drafted by the Bills with a seventh-round pick last year) before a breakout graduate season in 2019.
Atop the B.C. depth chart at tight end, Burt totaled 15 catches for 212 yards (both were college career-highs) in 11 games with the Eagles in 2019, and came through with a career-best 55-yard touchdown grab against Richmond. He was also on the John Mackey Award watch list, which is given annually to the game’s top tight end.
What’s interesting about Burt’s signing, however, is that the Patriots are giving him $80,000 guaranteed on the deal. That is one of the larger guarantees for an undrafted tight end, Boston College TE Jake Burt, an undrafted free agent, is signing with the New England Patriots and is receiving $80,000 guaranteed to do it, one of the larger guarantees for undrafted TEs, per source.
The Patriots did something similar last year when they gave over $100,000 in guaranteed money to the undrafted Andrew Beck. That failed to mean much of anything when it came to Beck making the Patriots, however, as Beck did not make the Patriots’ 53-man roster out of training camp and was lost on a waiver claim from the Denver Broncos.
Burt, who played his high school football at St. John’s Prep, joins a tight end group that features three other rookies (Asiasi, Keene, and Ohio State’s Rashod Berry), as well as 2019 holdovers Matt LaCosse and Ryan Izzo.
