The Patriots have played against plenty of star receivers this season, guys like Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, CeeDee Lamb, Amari Cooper and Stefon Diggs, just to name a few.
Most weeks, New England practice squad receiver Kristian Wilkerson’s greatest contributions are on the scout team playing the role of those opposing star pass catchers to give his team’s defense a requisite preparatory practice look.
And while he fulfilled that role again last week, he had an even more critical role when he was elevated to the active roster and had a breakout game in Sunday afternoon’s 50-10 blowout of the Jaguars at Gillette Stadium.
With Nelson Agholor still out with a concussion and N’Keal Harry a somewhat surprising healthy scratch, Wilkerson was promoted to the Patriots active roster against Jacksonville. He not only earned his first NFL start but went on to catch the first four passes of his career for 42 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a score on his first-ever professional catch.
This was some next level next-man-up stuff.
“Wilk is a hardworking kid,” Bill Belichick said of his young pass catcher. “He normally plays the top or one of the top receivers of our opponents for our defense, so he gets targeted a lot in practice. But he’s always ready to go when we’ve had injuries or guys that needed to step in, didn’t practice or that type of thing, he’s stepped in and is always well prepared, knew what to do, and has been productive in practice. It was nice to see him get the opportunity today and take advantage of it, cash in and play well. He also played in the kicking game. He was able to contribute there. Just overall he’s helping us in both phases of the game, and the more you can do.”
Wilkerson is a former 2020 undrafted rookie out of Southeast Missouri State who joined the practice squad last September after being cut by the Titans. He played in one game late last season and was impressive at times this past summer both in training camp practices and preseason action, when he led the Patriots with 13 catches for 147 yards.
“I was just ready to go,” Wilkerson said of finding out late last week that he’d be promoted to the active roster for just the fourth time in his young career. “Just prepared all year for this so it finally came and hopefully I did what I did but we got the win, so that's the best thing.”
The production on the Sunday field wasn’t really a surprise to his teammates, who were rooting for the young contributor and have seen the work Wilkerson’s put in mostly behind the scenes over the last two seasons.
“It was amazing honestly.” Jakobi Meyers said. “Just understanding where he came from, undrafted, guys probably doubting you, you’re just waiting on your moment, working hard every day. He’s in here at 6:00 every morning. Seeing him go out there and make plays that we all knew he could make – now everybody gets to see it. I’m real happy for him.”
“I feel like there's just a standard here to come in and work hard every day so it's not like I think about it,” the reserved Wilkerson said of his efforts, admitting he was looking forward to speaking with his family about his impressive performance. “But just working hard is the standard here pretty much if you want to make it or play. You've got to work hard, be on top of your game and know what you're doing out there for the coaches.”
Wilkerson indeed stepped up to his opportunity Sunday afternoon and took full advantage with a performance that will likely earn him more chances to show his stuff in the future, and not just on the practice field pretending to be another team’s playmaker. Because for Sunday, at least, Wilkerson himself was a real playmaker for the Patriots.
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