FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots re-signed fifth-year cornerback Hank Poteat today. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Additionally, the Patriots placed third-year cornerback Randall Gay on the reserve/injured list with a hamstring injury.
Poteat, 28, was initially acquired by the Patriots as a free agent on Jan. 10, 2005, and has played in 10 regular-season games and five playoff games for New England. The 5-foot-10-inch, 192-pound cornerback is in his sixth NFL season and has played in 52 career regular-season games and seven playoff games for the Pittsburgh Steelers (2000-02), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2003) and Patriots (2004-05). The University of Pittsburgh product was originally drafted by the Steelers in the third round (77th overall) of the 2000 NFL Draft. He was released by the Patriots on Aug. 29, 2006.
With the Patriots in 2005, Poteat set a single-season career high with 24 tackles (20 solo) and also recorded his first career sack against the New York Jets on Dec. 26, 2005. He set a single-game career high with nine tackles (8 solo) in the 2005 regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on Jan. 1, 2006. Poteat's career regular-season statistics include 33 tackles (29 solo), one sack, one pass defensed, one forced fumble and three fumble recoveries. He has also returned 45 kickoffs for 818 yards (18.2 avg) and 76 punts for 788 yards (10.4 avg) and a touchdown.
Gay, 24, was originally signed by the Patriots as an undrafted free agent on April 29, 2004. The 5-foot-11-inch, 190-poind cornerback has played in 23 career games with 11 starts and has recorded 50 tackles (45 solo), two interceptions for 23 yards, seven passes defensed, two fumble recoveries (including one returned 41 yards for a touchdown) and four special teams tackles. Additionally, Gay started all three of New England's 2004 playoff games at left cornerback as a rookie and was the Patriots' leading tackler in Super Bowl XXXIX, notching 11 solo tackles. This season, Gay played in the first three games of the year and recorded one solo tackle.
