Knee surgery puts Patten's season on ice

One of the stars of the Patriots' 2001 Super Bowl run, Patten had been inactive the past two games and for three of the last six after injuring the knee against the Jets in Week 3. He started against Miami but played sparingly and didn't catch a pass. He finishes the year with nine receptions for 140 yards. His last catch of the season was a 39-yarder Oct. 12 against the Giants, one of his former teams.

In his second year, former second-round pick Deion Branch has become the Patriots' primary target. Patten was the team's fastest receiver until New England drafted Bethel Johnson in the second round of this year's draft. David Givens, a seventh-round pick last year, has matured into a clutch third receiver and leads the team with three touchdown catches. And, of course, there's the reliable Troy Brown.

With Brown around and three young receivers all worthy of playing time, it's difficult to imagine Patten, 29, returning next year, especially at a salary of $1 million, too high for a fifth receiver. He counts roughly $1.25 million toward the cap next year, the last of a three-year deal he signed before the 2001 season. Should the Patriots release Patten, who earns $700,000 this season, they would absorb a cap hit of $333,333, or the remaining third of his prorated signing bonus.

Asked yesterday whether he felt his client would be back in New England next year, Patten's agent, Mark Lepselter, said, "I don't want to speculate too much at this point as far as where Dave will stand with the Patriots going forward, but as any player and, quite honestly, any agent knows, the business of the NFL is constantly changing. Teams are constantly evolving. The Patriots have young receivers, so we'll have to wait and see what they want to do. There's no question in Dave's mind that he can be a contributor. He's enjoyed his time with the Patriots, so let's see how it goes. We hope everything will work out."

The signing of Patten could not have worked out any better for him or the Patriots. In camp he beat out several veteran receivers for the starting job and went to set career highs with 51 catches for 749 yards and 4 touchdowns in 2001. He caught a touchdown in the AFC title game at Pittsburgh and another in the Super Bowl. Last year, he had 61 receptions for 824 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Patten hurt his knee planting it on the Gillette Stadium turf during a 20-yard catch in the first quarter against the Jets. Lepselter confirmed that Patten underwent surgery Wednesday at Massachusetts General Hospital. The injury originally was thought to be a torn meniscus, Lepselter said, until Patriots team physician Bert Zarins discovered the torn cartilage during the operation. Patten probably could have come back from the former in a few weeks.

The transaction leaves the Patriots with only four healthy receivers. Rookie Chas Gessner has been practicing and could be activated from the physically-unable-to-perform list soon. New England also has Jamin Elliott on the practice squad. As of yesterday the Patriots had not auditioned any receivers. They've had just four active in six of nine games.

Mayer released

New England also released rookie safety Shawn Mayer. He played in each of the past three games and made three special teams tackles. Mayer spent the first six weeks on the practice squad . . . On Thursday the team released from the practice squad linebacker Justin Kurpeikis, like Mayer a former Penn State Nittany Lion . . . Are the Patriots dissatisfied with punter Ken Walter? Maybe. Thursday they tried out punters Steve Cheek, Filip Filipovic, and Craig Jarrett. Walter has the third-worst gross average (38.8 yards) and fifth-worst net average (34.0) in the AFC . . . New England has submitted its explanation, but the league has not yet decided whether the Patriots violated the injury report policy by keeping Richard Seymour "probable" even though he did not travel with the team to Denver last Sunday.