Patriots sign Division III rookie receiver David Wallis

FOXBORO -- The Patriots invited David Wallis to rookie minicamp last month on a tryout basis, and the undrafted receiver did enough to earn a spot on the New England roster. The Patriots signed the Division III product on Monday.

Wallis, who checks in at 6-feet and 184 pounds, played his college ball at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. He played in 42 games for the Yellow Jackets and hauled in 146 receptions for 3,144 yards and 34 touchdowns over his five-year college career. He caught a dozen of those touchdowns in 2023, when he had 53 receptions for 957 yards.

Wallis also has some value on special teams, as he averaged 20.2 yards on 22 kicks returns. He didn't return any kicks in 2023, after returning 20 between the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

He now joins a crowded receiver group in New England that already includes a pair of rookies in second-round pick Ja'Lynn Polk and fourth-round pick Javon Baker. The Patriots have nine other wide receivers on the roster at the moment: Kendrick Bourne, JuJu Smith-Schuster, K.J Osborn, DeMario Douglas, Tyquan Thornton, Jalen Reagor, Kayshon Boutte, Kawaan Baker, and T.J. Luther. 

That crowded group should make for quite the competition throughout training camp, which is expected to begin at the end of July.

To make room for Wallis on the roster, the Patriots released third-year offensive lineman Andrew Stueber on Monday. New England drafted Stueber in the seventh round (No. 245 overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft.