Patriots scouting report: DeMario Douglas is a fascinating role player

The New England Patriots selected two wide receivers in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, and both have made positive contributions to the team over the last three seasons. But while the statistical arrow keeps pointing up for Kayshon Boutte, teammate DeMario Douglas is coming off a challenging season.

Even though he continued to have his positive moments, his role and production both changed compared to previous years. As a consequence, Douglas is now headed toward an uncertain future.

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Hard facts

Name: DeMario Douglas

Position: Wide receiver

Jersey number: 3

Opening day age: 25 (12/18/2000)

Measurements: 5’8 2/8”, 192 lbs, 72 1/2” wingspan, 30 1/4” arm length, 8 3/4” hand size, 4.44s 40-yard dash, 7.05s 3-cone drill, 4.29s short shuttle, 39 1/2” vertical jump, 11’2” broad jump, 12 bench press reps, 7.34 Relative Athletic Score

Experience

NFL: England Patriots (2023-) | College: Liberty (2019-22)

A two-way player, Douglas flew under the radar during his high school career at Pedro Menendez (St. Augustin, FL) and at Mandarin (Jacksonville, FL). Despite going 72-1,382-16 as a receiver and picking up eight passes as a cornerback, the no-star recruit received only a handful of scholarship offers at the FBS level. One of them came from Liberty University, where he ended up spending his entire four-year college career.

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Between 2019 and 2022, Douglas appeared in 40 games with 17 starts. Steadily increasing his output as a receiver, he finished with 172 catches for 2,193 yards and 16 touchdowns; he also scored a pair of punt return touchdowns and averaged 14.0 yards per carry. Coming off a successful redshirt junior campaign that saw him lead the Flames in receiving for a second straight season, he opted to forgo his final year of eligibility to turn pro.

Douglas had to wait until the 210th overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft to hear his name called, but he received semi-regular action with the Patriots’ starters over his first two seasons. Despite being the most productive wide receiver on the team between 2023 and 2024, his role and receiving numbers both changed in 2025. Nonetheless, three seasons into his pro career, he still stands at a combined 52 regular season and playoff appearances as well as 154 receptions for 1,713 yards and seven touchdowns — solid stats for a sixth-round draft pick.

Scouting report

Strengths: Douglas is dynamic player both before and after the catch. He has the flexible hips and efficient feet to be a “phone booth” receiver — an agile target who limits wasted movements by combining quickness and change-of-direction skills. He also offers good burst and the straight-line speed to be a factor both horizontally and vertically. If given a free release at the line of scrimmage, he can shake man-to-man cornerbacks of all sizes, and also pick up yards after the ball finds his hands as a receiver or on designed runs.

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Speaking of his hands, Douglas has generally shown a reliable pair of mitts; his career drop rate of 2.3% did not happen by accident. He has good body control and concentration to haul in passes outside his somewhat limited natural frame (see his 4th-and-1 grab with 8:14 left in the third quarter against the Titans in 2025). He generally runs a crisp and well-grown route tree, and is tough to get hands on given his snap at the start of his routes (combined with the fact that he is best used off the ball). Despite his frame, he does not shy away from contact.

Weaknesses: Standing at just 5-foot-8 and 192 pounds, Douglas is undersized and last season was used in a fairly limited role. He lacks the play strength to regularly beat press-man coverage and is easily re-routed once defenders get their hands on him. He also is of limited use as a blocker in the run game; the willingness to use his natural leverage is there, but his frame as well as inadequate power and punch can fail him in that regard and makes it hard for him to sustain blocks.

His limitations also impact his usage: he is not a three-down receiver in the eyes of the Patriots’ current coaching staff and only used as part of select packages, and primarily in the slot. He also has had some issues with concussions (2) and fumbles (4) over his first two seasons in the NFL, even though both improved in Year 3. In general, his smaller stature increases his injury risk; he dealt with a hamstring issue in late 2015.

2025 review

Stats: 21 games (0 starts) | 367 offensive snaps (27.0%), 3 special teams snaps (0.5%) | 55 targets, 39 catches (70.9%), 531 receiving yards (13.6/catch), 4 TDs, 2 drops | 7 carries, 21 yards (3.0/carry) | 0 penalties

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Season recap: Coming off the most productive season of his career up until that point, Douglas looked like he could become a key piece in a revamped receiver group and under new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. However, despite serving as the top slot receiver throughout training camp and having some solid moments as a package player in 2025, his third year in the league overall presented a step back in several categories.

First, his usage. Over his first two seasons, Douglas started 14 total games and was on the field for almost 60% of the team’s offensive snaps when healthy. In 2025, however, he had no starts to his name and played only 27% of snaps as a part-time slot option.

That play time decrease also led to a statistical drop-off. He registered a career-low 55 targets and 39 catches.

That does not mean, as not above, that Douglas didn’t also have some promising plays and was a valuable contributor overall. Just look at it this way: among the Patriots’ regular receiving weapons in 2025, nobody had a higher passer rating when targeted. Drake Maye and, on two occasions, Joshua Dobbs posted a combined 125.6 when throwing to Douglas.

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And throwing to him was typically a recipe for success. Of course, as with most recipes, it took some time for the final dish to be prepared.

Early on in the season, just like in 2024, Douglas was not able to find his niche. He was mostly used as a traditional slot, running shorter routes and seeing a high volume of targets. However, only five of 11 passes traveling his way over the first three weeks of the season actually ended up complete; and those completions gained only 13 total yards, resulting in a mere 2.6 yards per catch and 1.2 yards per target.

Eventually, the Patriots changed Douglas’ role. While that led to a decrease in snaps down from 43.4% over those first three weeks, it allowed him to play a more natural role as a vertical target. As a consequence, his catch rate and yardage production skyrocketed: while still not a volume player in New England’s offense averaging just 2.4 targets per game from Week 4 on, 77.3% of the passes thrown toward him ended up complete while he averaged 15.2 yards per catch and 11.8 yards per target during that 18-game period.

He also registered his first career 100-yard game along the way (Week 9 vs. Falcons) and hauled in three of his four touchdowns, including a big one to start the scoring against the Texans in the divisional playoff round.