The New England Patriots announced that they’ve officially signed eight players to future/reserve contracts on Tuesday including G Chris Barker, WR Devin Lucien, WR Shaq Evans, G Jamil Douglas, G Chase Farris, LB Trevor Bates, RB Tyler Gaffney, DT Darius Kilgo and DT Woodrow Hamilton.
The Patriots have now signed 9 players to futures deals. The full list includes:
- TE Rob Housler
- G Chris Barker
- WR Devin Lucien
- WR Shaq Evans
- G Jamil Douglas
- G Chase Farris
- LB Trevor Bates
- RB Tyler Gaffney
- DT Darius Kilgo
- DT Woodrow Hamilton
Future/reserve contracts are essentially an opportunity for players compete for a roster spot in offseason workouts and during training camp.
Gaffney, 25, is a former sixth-round pick of the Panthers back in 2014. He was in the third year of his four-year, $2,316,600 rookie contract and set to make a base salary of $600,000 for the 2016 season.
The Patriots wound up claiming him off of waivers from the Panthers in 2014 after Carolina cut him loose with the intention of getting him through waivers. New England ultimately waived him coming out of the preseason with an injury designation.
After clearing waivers, Gaffney reverted to their injured reserve list before he was later cut loose with an injury settlement at the start of the season. He was on and off of their practice squad this year.
New England elected to cut him loose on Thursday.
At Stanford, Gaffney ran for 2,500 yards on 486 carries (5.1 YPC) and scored a total of 37 touchdowns over the course of four years.
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