{"id":77081,"date":"2025-08-13T09:05:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:05:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=77081"},"modified":"2025-08-13T09:07:33","modified_gmt":"2025-08-13T09:07:33","slug":"patriots-cut-3rd-year-player-in-exchange-for-promising-rookie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=77081","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Cut 3rd Year Player In Exchange For Promising Rookie"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229152054-e1755043410251.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229152054-e1755043410251.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229152054-e1755043410251.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229152054-e1755043410251.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Patriots Cut 3rd Year Player In Exchange For Promising Rookie\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Mike Vrabel, head coach of the New England Patriots, during the first pre-season game of the season against the Washington Commanders on August 8, 2025.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The New England Patriots\u2018 running back room may be looking very promising after some flash plays from new acquisition, TreVeyon Henderson, made some splash plays\u00a0in his pre-season debut on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>However, the team have lost another of their depth options to injury at the running back position, Deneric Prince, who was waived with an injury designation \u2013 per Mike Reiss.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Further context: The Patriots waived RB Deneric Prince with an injury designation. https:\/\/t.co\/lxkJro7Z70<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeReiss\/status\/1955379535605563414?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js<\/p>\n<h2>Running Back, Deneric Prince Released With Injury Designation<\/h2>\n<p>Prince has been somewhat of a journeyman in the league since with the Kansas City Chiefs back in 2023. He spent his rookie year on the Chiefs\u2019 practice squad before being released at the end of final roster cuts in August 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, he spent some time on the Miami Dolphins\u2018 practice squad before playing for the Memphis Showboats of the UFL this past spring \u2013 and subsequently signing with the Patriots on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Yet just two days later, on Tuesday, Prince\u2019s short stint with New England has come to an end.<\/p>\n<p>And in exchange \u2013 also per Reiss, the team signed undrafted rookie, Shane Watts, who most recently played for Fort Hays State University.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Follow-up Patriots transaction:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfc8 RB Shane Watts signed<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfc8 RB Deneric Prince released (before taking the field for practice)<\/p>\n<p>NOTE: Watts is listed at 5-foot-9, 195 pounds. At Division II Fort Hayes State, he was a DB for two seasons before switching to RB. https:\/\/t.co\/Nz8vBE9oSO<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeReiss\/status\/1955319838051635550?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js<\/p>\n<p>Watts is new to the position, as Reiss noted above, but his contribution to the team was substantial \u2013 particularly considering his relatively novelty to the role. Watts managed 17 total touchdowns last season, with 13 of them being on the ground, en route to making the All-American second-team.<\/p>\n<h2>What Does The Patriots\u2019 Running Back Room Look Like?<\/h2>\n<p>The Patriots\u2019 concerns of the state of the running back extend greater than the switch from Prince to Watts. As Reiss noted on an earlier post, the team have been short numerous options on offense over the past couple of days, including projected RB1, Rhamondre Stevenson.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">In recent days, the Patriots have seen their RB ranks thinned, as Rhamondre Stevenson hasn\u2019t practiced since the preseason opener, Lan Larison (foot) was placed on IR, Terrell Jennings (possibly heat related) didn\u2019t finish Monday, and newly-signed Deneric Prince wasn\u2019t on field. https:\/\/t.co\/6kfUhCwJd4<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeReiss\/status\/1955021062246445361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js<\/p>\n<p>Two of the team\u2019s top four running backs, per their unofficial depth chart; Stevenson and 2024 UDFA, Terrell Jennings, have been missing from practice over the past couple of days, and Lan Larison just went to injured reserve.<\/p>\n<p>It does not seem like the Stevenson injury is hugely severe, given that no update has been issued by the team on his status \u2013 but mentally there is a chance that New England goes into the regular season short in the RB department.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps, if needed, Shane Watts can contribute earlier than expected.<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Arwas Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com.\u00a0Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics\u00a0and\u00a0The Hammer. More about Daniel Arwas<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New England Patriots have cut third year running back, Deneric Prince, and signed UDFA rookie, Shane Watts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":77082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Patriots Cut 3rd Year Player In Exchange For Promising Rookie - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=77081\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patriots Cut 3rd Year Player In Exchange For Promising Rookie - 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