FOXBOROUGH, Mass. –The New England Patriots announced today that they have signed CB Robert Nelson, Jr. and OL Jason King to the practice squad. Additionally, the Patriots have released CB Jomal Wiltz from the practice squad.
Nelson, 23, was originally signed by the Cleveland Browns as a rookie free agent out of Arizona State on May 19, 2014. The 5-foot-9, 175-pounder appeared in seven games with the Browns as a rookie, playing mostly on special teams. He was released by Cleveland prior to the start of the 2015 season and spent the majority of the year on the Arizona Cardinals practice squad before being added to the active roster on Nov. 11, 2015. Nelson was active once in three games and did not see game action before being released on Dec. 1, 2015.
Nelson began the 2016 season on the Houston Texans practice squad and was added to the 53-man roster on Oct. 13, 2016. He appeared in nine regular season games as a reserve and notched nine tackles and one interception. He also played in both of the Texans postseason contests and posted three tackles and one pass defensed. Nelson was released by Houston on Sept. 2, 2017.
King, 23, was originally signed by the New England Patriots as a rookie free agent from Purdue on May 5, 2017. The 6-foot-4, 310-pounder went through training camp with the team and was released prior to the start of the regular season. He was three year starter at left guard at Purdue after first entering the starting lineup as a redshirt freshman in 2013.
Wiltz, 22, was signed by the New England Patriots to the practice squad on Sept. 7, 2017. The 5-foot-10, 180-pounder was originally signed by the Philadelphia Eagles as a rookie free agent from Iowa State on May 11, 2017. He was released by the Eagles on Sept. 2, 2017. He played at Iowa State in 2015 and 2016 after transferring from Trinity Valley College.