FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots announced that they have signed free agent OL Marshall Newhouse to the 53-man roster and signed DBs Obi Melifonwu and Nate Brooks to the practice squad. In addition, New England has released OL Colby Gossett from the practice squad.
Newhouse, 30, is a veteran of eight NFL seasons with the Green Bay Packers (2010-13), Cincinnati Bengals (2014), New York Giants (2015-16), Oakland Raiders (2017), Buffalo Bills (2018) and Carolina Panthers (2018). The 6-foot-4, 330-pounder originally entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick (169th overall) by Green Bay in the 2010 NFL Draft out of Texas Christian. Newhouse has played both right and left tackle in 114 regular-season games with 72 starts and six postseason contests with three starts. Last season, Newhouse played in three games as a reserve for the Bills before being traded to the Panthers on Sept. 25, 2018. After joining Carolina, he appeared in 11 games with two starts at left tackle. Newhouse signed with the New Orleans Saints on May 22, 2019, and was released on Sept. 1, 2019.
Brooks, 23, originally entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of North Texas with the Arizona Cardinals on May 10, 2019 and was released on Sept. 3. The 6-foot, 190-pounder was a four-year starter for North Texas and appeared in 48 games with 41 starts. Brooks totaled 193 tackles, 10 interceptions, 29 passes defensed, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He earned second-team All-Conference USA honors and was named a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award after totaling 67 tackles, six interceptions and 16 passes as a senior in 2018.
Melifonwu, 25, was released on Sept. 9 after being inactive for the season-opener vs. Pittsburgh. He was originally signed by 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 on Nov. 4. He appeared in five games with one start and registered six tackles on defense and one on special teams before being placed on injured reserve on Dec. 15. Melifonwu's lone start for the Raiders came on Nov. 19, 2017, against the Patriots in Mexico City, where he made three tackles. 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 of the three postseason games.
Gossett, 24, was signed by New England to the practice squad on Sept. 2. The 6-foot-5, 331-pounder was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round (213th overall) of the 2018 NFL Draft out of Appalachian State. Gossett began his rookie season on the Vikings practice squad before being added to the Arizona Cardinals 53-man roster on Oct. 30, 2018. He played in five games with four starts for the Cardinals. He was released by Arizona on Sept. 1, 2019.
