Patriots

Patriots’ new weight listings for 2023 season highlight multiple players’ offseason objectives

Kendrick Bourne has apparently spent most of the last few months in the weight room.

By Conor Ryan

July 21, 2023

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With training camp set to open in Foxboro next week, the Patriots opted to give their website a refresh on Thursday.

Updated coaching titles for Bill Belichick’s staff understandably captured most of the headlines on Thursday morning.

But as noted by Doug Kyed of The Boston Herald, the Patriots also updated the weight for nearly every player on the team’s current 90-man roster. 

Before the pads and helmets are put on in late July, there’s little to glean from when it comes to assessing the strides made by a player during the long offseason. But these latest measurables at least shed some light on some of the efforts made by a few Patriots to bulk up ahead of the 2023 campaign.

Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne has apparently spent most of the last few months in the weight room. After being listed at 190 pounds during a disappointing 2022 season, Bourne is now tabbed at 205 pounds.

After reeling in 55 catches for 800 yards and five touchdowns in 2021, Bourne was limited to just 35 receptions for 434 yards in his second season with New England. His lone touchdown came in Week 16 against the Bengals.

With the Patriots whiffing in the DeAndre Hopkins’ sweepstakes, a stronger Bourne figures to be a key cog in Mac Jones’s arsenal of weapons in 2023. 

“I didn’t give the team my best effort,” Bourne said of his play in 2022, per Patriots.com’s Mike Dussault. “Personally we as players have to be our best so we can give the team the opportunity to win and I feel like I didn’t do that. So I’ve been grinding, trying to get bigger, weighing more, just being a more solid receiver and being able to do more.

“I don’t really go off stats, I go off how I feel, how I look and I just wasn’t in a good place, now I just want to avoid that. So it was a good learning process, it was good that it happened to me, and it’s always good to learn from hard times, struggling times.”

Bourne was far from the only established regular on New England’s roster to add some heft over the summer.

Defensive tackle Davon Godchaux went from 311 pounds to 330 pounds as the expected anchor of New England’s defensive line, while second-year corner Marcus Jones put on 13 pounds (175 pounds to 188 pounds).

Players expected to shift positions and take on new roles this upcoming season understandably saw their weight fluctuate. If he makes the switch from cornerback to safety, it makes sense that Jalen Mills went from 191 pounds to 200 pounds.

Malik Cunningham, looking to land a spot on New England’s roster as a wide receiver after playing quarterback at Louisville, gained 10 pounds from his previous listing of 188 pounds.

Rookie and minicamp standout Marte Mapu put on 16 pounds and is now listed at 230 pounds. He could be adding on some extra muscle if New England opts to use him more as a linebacker instead of reps in the secondary as a hard-hitting safety. 

Second-year wideout Tyquan Thornton only saw a slight uptick in his weight, going from 182 pounds last season to 185 pounds entering training camp. Even with his evident talent, Thornton’s slender frame has raised questions about his ability to withstand the punishment that comes over the span of a 17-game season.

Cornerback Rodney Randle, who signed a futures contract with the Patriots back in January, saw an eye-catching change in his weight. Once listed at 170 pounds, he is now listed at 205 pounds. However, that reading might just be a result of an inaccurate initial weight listing.

As for the quarterbacks, Mac Jones went from 214 pounds to 220 pounds this offseason, while Bailey Zappe dropped from 220 pounds to 215 pounds.