Ahead of Saturday's wild-card playoff game against the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots have elevated four players from their practice squad -- including a wide receiver who made quite the impression late in the regular season.
Kristian Wilkerson highlights the call-ups for New England against Buffalo, two weeks after his two-touchdown game against the Jacksonville Jaguars -- but a week after he reverted to the practice squad and remained inactive against the Miami Dolphins.
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Wilkerson, who turned 25 earlier this week, has been off and on the practice squad for the Patriots since the middle of the 2020 season but didn't see any sustained action until New England's Week 17 win over the Jaguars. He originally signed with the Tennessee Titans after going undrafted in 2020 out of Southeast Missouri State.
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In 60 offensive snaps against Jacksonville, a 50-10 win for the Patriots, Wilkerson caught the first four passes of his career for 42 yards, catching 6 and 20-yard touchdown passes from Mac Jones while N'Keal Harry, a first-round pick in 2019, was inactive. It wasn't a perfect outing for Wilkerson, either, who had two dropped passes.
Harry returned to the lineup against the Dolphins last week, playing just 12 offensive snaps and failing to catch a pass on one target.
New England Patriots
It remains unclear if either Wilkerson or Harry will be active against the Bills.
New England also recalled defensive backs D'Angelo Ross and De'Vante Bausby, as well as defensive lineman Daniel Ekuale, ahead of the team's first playoff matchup vs. Buffalo since the 1963 season.