What signing Jeremiah Franklin, waiving Jimmy Kibble means for the Patriots

The New England Patriots made a pair of roster moves on the eve of their 2026 training camp. Besides making the previously-reported signing of tight end Jeremiah Franklin official, they also waived wide receiver Jimmy Kibble with an injury designation.

Let’s assess what the two moves involving rookie players mean for the club.

More tight end depth

The Patriots made no secret of their desire to add to their tight end room after losing Julian Hill to a season-ending injury earlier in the offseason. They did just that this week, signing Franklin and second-year man Mitch Van Vooren on consecutive days.

As a consequence, their tight end room is now seven players deep:

Tight end (7): Hunter Henry (85), Jack Westover (37), Eli Raridon (82), C.J. Dippre (81), Tanner Arkin (84), Mitch Van Vooren (46), Jeremiah Franklin (80)

IR (1): Julian Hill

Hunter Henry is the undisputed starter, with third-round rookie Eli Raridon locked into a roster spot behind him. The rest of the group, meanwhile, is set to be participate in what could be an intense camp competition for what is unlikely to be more than one spot if even that.

Based on the spring, Jack Westover looks like the frontrunner. C.J. Dippre, his top competitor as far as experience is concerned, will start camp on the physically unable to perform list.

Well-rounded skillset

Franklin is neither the biggest of tight ends nor the most impressive athlete, as evidenced by his comparatively uninspiring 3.29 Relative Athletic Score. What Franklin lacks in any defining traits, however, he makes up with a well-rounded skillset: he is able as an in-line blocker and also has proven himself a reliable underneath receiver during his career at Boston College; he caught 93 passes for 1,010 yards and six touchdowns in his 44 games as an Eagle.

In addition, Franklin comes from a program whose offense has some similarities to the one he has just joined. While that experience will only help him so much, the transition from Chestnut Hill to Foxborough will not be quite as drastic as it could have been had he joined another team.

Thinning the receiver herd

The Patriots did not select any wide receivers in this year’s draft, but they opted to sign four of them as rookie free agents. Kibble was one of them, but has now become the first one to be let go again.

This reduces the number of wide receivers on New England’s roster to 11:

Wide receiver (11): A.J. Brown (1), Romeo Doubs (87), Kayshon Boutte (9), Mack Hollins (13), Kyle Williams (18), DeMario Douglas (3), Efton Chism III (86), Jeremiah Webb (29), Kyle Dixon (83), Nick DeGennaro (23), Cameron Dorner (88)

A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs project as the top two on the depth chart after the Patriots made significant investments in both during the offseason. The complementary roster spots alongside them, meanwhile, will be subject to one of the fiercest competitions of the summer.

Off to IR

The Patriots’ initial announcement of the Kibble move claimed that was sent to injured reserve, but the NFL transactions wire revealed that the move was more complex than that. Before joining IR, the rookie will have to pass through the waiver wire. Given his injury status and the fact that he entered the league as a rookie free agent, demand in his services will likely be limited and he should be expected to go unclaimed.

If so, Kibble will join the aforementioned Julian Hill as the only players on New England’s injured reserve so far. Both will be out for the season, unless the nature of Kibble’s ailment would allow for him to return to the field at a later point in the year. If so, he might get released off IR with an injury settlement beforehand and could therefore potentially play again later this season.

No salary cap impact

While every rostered NFL player has a salary cap number, not every one of those numbers actually impacts a team’s cap space during the offseason. With the Top 51 rule in place — meaning that only the most expensive 51 contracts are counted until the start of the regular season — a significant chunk of players have no such impact.

That is true for Kibble and Franklin as well. Both were signed to standard undrafted rookie deals with a salary of $885,000 and no guarantees attached. Hence, no cap changes at this point even with the former moving off the roster and the latter joining it in his place.