Patriots Sign QB Taylor Heinicke To PS, Release WR Demarcus Ayers

According to Mike Reiss, the Patriots released WR Demarcus Ayers from their practice squad to make room for QB Taylor Heinicke.

The Patriots’ practice squad now consists of:

1. OL James Ferentz (Exception)
2. WR Cody Hollister
3. DB David Jones
4. DB Damarius Travis
5. DE Angelo Blackson (Exception)
6. CB Ryan Lewis
7. DB Robert Nelson
8. G Jason King
9. WR Riley McCarron
10. QB Taylor Heinicke

McCarron, 24, wound up signing a three-year, $1.66 million contract with the Texans as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa back in May. He was set to make base salaries of $465,000 and $555,000 over the first two years of the contract when the Texans cut him loose coming out of the preseason and later signed him to their practice squad.

Houston cut McCarron loose earlier in the week.

During his four-year college career at Iowa, McCarron caught 50 passes for 584 yards receiving and five touchdowns over the course of 27 games.

Heinicke, 24, wound up signing on with the Vikings as an undrafted free agent out of Old Dominion back in May of 2015. He managed to make the 53-man roster during his rookie season but wasn’t active for a single game.

The Vikings wound up placing him on the non-football injury list at the start of the 2016 season with an ankle injury, but brought him back in November.

Unfortunately, the Vikings elected to waive Heinicke with an injury designation coming out of the preseason and he later reverted to their injured reserve list. Minnesota waived him with an injury settlement a few weeks ago.

Heinicke has yet to appear in an NFL game.