Pats dust off David Patten for one more go

credit Associated Press

The Patriots announced today that they have signed WR David Patten. Patten, if you recall, was a Patriot during the Super Bowl years and had some pretty interesting games/plays during his stay here. He had the second triple score day in NFL history when in Indianapolis in 2001, he scored a receiving TD, a rushing TD, and a passing TD. Also in 2001, he “recovered” a fumble while being knocked unconscious in Buffalo. Most of his body laid out of bounds but his foot was on the football, thus recovering and downing his own fumble. He made big plays when they counted most, catching a touchdown pass from Drew Bledsoe in the 2002 AFC title game (one of my favorite all-time Patriots moments) and catching another TD pass from Brady in the subsequent Super Bowl against the Rams.

However, he has since been out of football an entire year after being cut by the Cleveland Browns after training camp. Also, he is 35 years old, not exactly representative of the youth movement going on in Foxboro. So is this a bad move?

Not necessarily. Patten knows the system well and had a good rapport with Tom Brady. If he makes the team, he will likely be the third or fourth receiver until Wes Welker returns. Even if he does not end up making the team, he will be a good influence on Brandon Tate and Julian Edelman, as well as any other new WR the Pats sign or draft. He can aide in their development in offseason meetings, on the practice field, and bring some of that winning leadership into the locker room. It will be interesting to see where this leads, and if he will be reunited with another former teammate- Deion Branch.