Patriots Officially Cut 2016 Fourth Round Draft Pick Malcolm Mitchell

After weeks of speculation about the third year wide receivers future in New England, the Patriots officially cut Malcolm Mitchell.

In 2016 when Mitchell was a rookie, it honestly seemed like he was going to be an absolute stud here in New England. It usually takes at least a season or two for Tom Brady to fully trust you in his system, but he seemed to warm up to Mitchell right off the bat.

After his first season where he grabbed 32 passes and six in the Super Bowl, Mitchell lost 2017 to a knee injury. Before week one was even played, he was thrown on injured reserve and was unavailable for a majority of the season.

A few weeks back there were rumors breaking left and right that he was being shopped by Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

The knee injury seems like it’s going to be a problem going forward. Or at least that’s where all signs are pointing. So what can the Patriots do now?

The main storyline that you’ve heard throughout Patriots training camp thus far is how thin their receiving core is. It’s riddled with seasoned veterans, but as it stands right now, nobody that the team can really look at for the future. Malcolm Mitchell looked like he would be that guy especially in 2016… But Belichick had some different plans.

The only thing I can imagine is that this injury is much more significant than we know. Like I said, I thought like so many other Patriots fans did, that this guy was going to be part of the team’s future success. He played like a veteran right away and was on the receiving end of one of the best passes I’ve ever seen Brady make.

Do we have a correlating move coming? Maybe. But cutting Malcolm Mitchell was almost written in stone once the trade rumors began to surface. So let’s see if Bill’s got something else coming.

-Nick Quaglia (@NickQuag)