Patriots are exploring options at wide receiver following injuries. What might that look like?

The Patriots‘ wide receiver depth took another hit Sunday when Mack Hollins went down with a calf injury.

Head coach Mike Vrabel said Monday that he didn’t have details on the severity of Hollins’s injury.

So far, Hollins has played 168 offensive snaps – the second-most on the team behind Romeo Doubs. Hollins and Doubs are tied for the team lead in targets [20] following the A.J. Brown injury.

Hollins’ chemistry with Drake Maye, along with his size and blocking ability, helps keep him on the field. The Patriots are much smaller without Brown and Hollins. Williams, Douglas, and Chism are all under six-feet tall. The lack of size could change the way the Patriots have to play on offense.

Brown is out for at least one more game, and possibly more as he recovers from a high-ankle sprain.

The Patriots are keeping their eyes open for possible additions, Vrabel said Monday.

“Sure. Anybody that can help us,” Vrabel said. “We’ll go explore here shortly.”

Here are a few options the Patriots have in terms of adding to the receiver room, and what that might look like.

NFL teams typically keep either five or six wide receivers on the roster on game days. The Patriots began the year with six on the roster, and they typically dress five. Efton Chism was inactive against the Seahawks. Brown has been out since.

A healthy Hollins would keep the Patriots with five receivers available for next week.

If Hollins is unable to go, the only healthy receivers on the roster would be Doubs, Demario Douglas, Kyle Williams, and Chism. This would mean that New England would likely need to either elevate someone from the practice squad or go get a player from elsewhere.

Chism received the biggest jump in terms of snap counts out of all the Patriots receivers last week against Buffalo. He went from 16 snaps against the Jaguars to 34 against the Bills. It’s the most he has played on offense since the Patriots’ 42-10 win against the Jets last year.

He made the most of his opportunity, grabbing the go-ahead touchdown with a one-handed catch that Doubs called the “snag of the year.”

The catch could lead to more opportunities for Chism, Vrabel said Monday. The Buffalo game was the first time this season that Chism had played more than Kyle Williams, who logged 19 snaps against Buffalo.

The Patriots continue to use Williams as a situational deep threat. He averaged 19.7 snaps per game last season, which is about the same amount as he played last Sunday.

He has two catches for seven yards this season, but the hope is that he can start develop into a more consistent home run hitter on explosive plays. He picked up nearly a third of his career yards on one 72-yard catch against Tampa Bay last year.

The Patriots have three receivers on the practice squad. None of them have appeared in an NFL game before.

Kyle Dixon and Cameron Dorner are both undrafted rookies. Dixon played college baseball at Southern Illinois before playing two seasons of college football at Culver-Stockton College, an NAIA school in Missouri.

The 6-foot-2, 220-pound receiver led the Patriots in receptions during the preseason, catching all ten of his targets for 81 yards. He was third on the team in targets behind Williams and Lan Larrison.

Dorner, caught four of his five preseason targets for 37 yards, averaging 12.3 yards per catch. He had 56 catches for 911 yards and eight touchdowns at North Texas last season.

Chandler Brayboy spent time on the Jaguars practice squad last year before the Patriots picked him up.

Tyreek Hill is the top free agent wide receiver available, and his agent Drew Rosenhaus said he would anticipate Hill signing with a team within the next couple of days. He mentioned the Chiefs as one of the teams in the mix. The Patriots were not mentioned.

Gabe Davis, who caught 45 passes for 721 yards with the Bills in 2023 is a free agent. Hunter Renfrow has not been picked up since the Panthers cut him last January. Van Jefferson, who made seven starts for the Titans last year, is on the Commanders’ practice squad. NFL teams can sign players from opposing teams practice squads.

ESPN listed Marvin Harrison Jr. as one of the ten players who could get traded before the Nov. 10 deadline. He had five catches for 85 yards and a touchdown this season, and has yet to live up to expectations in Arizona.

ESPN also included Cleveland’s Jerry Jeudy on that list after he posted less than half as many receiving yards in 2025 (602) as he did in 2024 (1,229).

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

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