FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots announced that they have released DL Keointa Davis and DB Obi Melifonwu.
Davis, 26, originally signed with New England as a rookie free agent out of Tennessee-Chattanooga on Aug. 11, 2017. The 6-foot-4, 280-pounder spent his rookie season on the non-football injury reserve list. He made the 53-man roster coming out of training camp in 2018 and appeared in six regular-season games and posted six tackles. He spent the 2019 season on injured reserve.
Melifonwu, 26, initially joined the Patriots as a free agent on Nov. 6, 2018. The 6-foot, 224-pounder was originally drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round (56th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft out of Connecticut and began his rookie campaign on injured reserve before being activated to Oakland's 53-man roster. He appeared in five games with one start in 2017 and registered six tackles on defense and one on special teams. He was placed on injured reserve by Oakland prior to the start of the 2018 season before being released on Oct. 23. He played in two games with the Patriots in 2018 in the regular season and one postseason game. Melifonwu was released by the Patriots on Sept. 9, 2019, and signed to the practice squad on Sept. 11.
