Given their desperate need to add more weapons for Drake Maye, the New England Patriots spent their first four picks of the 2025 NFL Draft on offense. After adding 11 new players in the draft, the Patriots have since added a swarm of undrafted rookies, including FCS star Efton Chism III.
Chism joins Demeer Blankumsee, John Jiles, and Jeremiah Webb as undrafted rookie receivers who will compete for a spot on the Patriots' roster. The group is led by Kyle Williams, whom New England spent its third-round pick on. Despite the long road ahead, Chism has a wide-open path to making the team in a clear position of need.
However, Chism's offseason will be anything but easy. Before drafting Williams, the Patriots made a concerted effort to address their receiver needs in free agency. The free-agency class was not the strongest, but New England still managed to persuade Stefon Diggs and Mack Hollins to sign. The seasoned veterans will join a position group that ranked dead last in 2024.
Diggs, Williams, and Hollins join returning wideouts DeMario Douglas, Kayshon Boutte, Kendrick Bourne, Ja'Lynn Polk and Javon Baker. With the Patriots re-hiring Josh McDaniels as offensive coordinator, the team will go as far as Maye and the passing game will take it.
Patriots need as many receivers as they can get
While dealing with a rotating quarterback room, the Patriots managed just 3,343 receiving yards in 2024, the fewest in the league. Despite an overall promising rookie season for Maye, New England got virtually no separation or after-the-catch production from its receivers.
Tight end Hunter Henry led the team with 674 receiving yards in 2024 with Douglas leading the receivers with 621 yards. Douglas, Boutte, and Austin Hooper tied for the team lead in receiving touchdowns with just three apiece. Boutte, the team's top deep threat, was the only Patriot with more than 10 catches of 20 or more yards.
The group disappointed as a whole, but there was no bigger letdown than Polk, who the team took in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft. After taking Maye at No. 3, the Patriots drafted Polk on Day 2 with the hopes of pairing the two together for years to come.
But despite having every chance to make an impact, Polk caught just 12 of his 33 targets for a mere 87 receiving yards as a rookie.
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Coming off the year they had in 2024, signing a veteran like Diggs is a step in the right direction. But if the Patriots are going to get the most out of Maye, they need to give him playmakers to work with. At 31, Diggs is still the best pass-catcher in New England but not the All-Pro talent he once was. The door is still wide open for any player like Chism to potentially break through.
Efton Chism III will fight for a roster spot
Coming out of Eastern Washington, Chism is not a player the Patriots should be betting all their chips on. But with many seeing him as a potential late-round draft prospect, he has diamond-in-the-rough potential as an undrafted player. Though he spent five years with the FCS powerhouse, Chism is still just 23, only slightly older than the average rookie prospect.
A five-year FCS player is never going to top scouts' lists, but Chism turned heads in his final year with the Eagles. After falling just short of 1,000 yards in his fourth year, he peaked with 120 catches for 1,311 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns in 2024. He was a fringe NFL prospect ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft but successfully bet on himself and reached a new level in his fifth year.
Chism might not have the top-end speed or glue-like hands, and his 5-foot-11 frame is slightly undersized for the position. Scouts also had concerns about his route-running ability with 39 percent of his catches in 2024 coming behind the line of scrimmage. But with a tank-like physique and gritty run-after-catch ability, he fits the Patriots' mold to a tee.
Nobody is saying Chism is going to be a bona fide superstar, but in the NFL, sometimes one opening is all it takes. Few believed Julian Edelman or Wes Welker would develop into the players they became. If there is a team that undrafted players have historically had the best chance of succeeding with, it is the Patriots.
Chism should make the final roster, but if he somehow does not, keep an eye out for his name during the regular season. An injury or two would force the Patriots to turn to their practice squad where Chism will get the first call. One way or another, he will see the field in 2025 and have a chance to prove himself as the potential next undrafted success story.
