FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots announced today the signing of veteran S Adrian Colbert and veteran RB Tyler Gaffney. Terms of the contracts were not announced. Gaffney spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons with New England and then part of the 2016 season on the practice squad.
Colbert, 27, is a veteran of four NFL seasons with San Francisco (2017-18), Miami (2019) and the New York Giants (2020). The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder originally entered the NFL as a seventh-round draft pick (229th overall) by San Francisco in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Miami (Fla.). Colbert was released by San Francisco on Sept. 18, 2019 and was signed by Seattle to the practice squad on Sept. 19. He was signed by Miami to the 53-man roster from the Seattle practice squad on Nov. 20, 2019. Colbert was released by Miami on Aug. 16, 2020 and was signed by Kansas City on Aug. 22, 2020. He was claimed off waivers by the New York Giants following his release by Kansas City on Sept. 5. Overall, Colbert has played in 33 regular season games with 19 starts and totaled 65 tackles, eight passes defensed, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and nine special teams tackles. Last season with the Giants, Colbert played in six games with two starts and finished with seven tackles.
Gaffney, 30, was originally drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the sixth round (204th overall) of the 2014 NFL Draft out of Stanford. The 6-foot, 220-pounder was released by Carolina during training camp and claimed off waivers and awarded to the New England Patriots on July 28, 2014. Gaffney spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons on injured reserve with the Patriots and part of the 2016 season on New England's practice squad. He was elevated to the 53-man roster on Oct. 29, 2016 and was inactive for one game before being released on Nov. 10 and re-joining the practice squad. Gaffney was released by New England on March 20, 2017. He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars during training camp in 2017 and spent the season on injured reserve. Gaffney then played minor league baseball in 2018 while in the Pittsburgh Pirates farm system. He re-joined the NFL by signing with the San Francisco 49ers practice squad on Dec. 22, 2020 and was released on Jan. 4, 2021.
