FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots have signed OL Braxton Cave, T Jordan Devey, WR Reggie Dunn, OL R.J. Mattes, RB Sam McGuffie, WR Greg Orton and LB Taylor Reed to future contracts today. All seven of those players ended the season on the New England practice squad.
Cave, 24, was claimed off waivers by the Patriots from Cleveland on Sept. 1, 2013, and released on Sept. 5, 2013 before joining the practice squad on Sept. 7. The 6-foot-3, 305-pounder was originally signed by Cleveland as a rookie free agent out of Notre Dame on April 30, 2013. He was released by Cleveland on Aug. 30, 2013.
Devey, 25, was originally signed by the Baltimore as a rookie free agent out of Memphis on May 3, 2013. The 6-foot-6, 317-pounder was released by the Ravens on Aug. 30, and signed to the practice squad on Sept. 1 before being released on Sept. 2. He was signed to the New England practice squad on Sept. 3.
Dunn, 25, was originally signed by Pittsburgh as a rookie free agent on April 7, 2013, out of Utah. The 5-foot-9, 178-pounder was released by the Steelers after training camp and spent time on the practice squads of Green Bay, Cleveland and Miami in 2013 before joining the New England practice squad on Jan. 7, 2014.
Mattes, 23, was originally signed by New England as a rookie free agent on May 13 out of North Carolina State before being released on May 23 and re-signed on June 3. The 6-foot-6, 315-pounder was released again on Aug. 24 before being signed to the practice squad on Dec. 30.
McGuffie, 24, was originally signed by the Oakland Raiders on April 29, 2013, as a rookie free agent out of Rice. The 5-10, 200-pounder was released by Oakland on Aug. 26 and signed by the Arizona Cardinals to the practice squad on Sept. 3 before being released on Sept. 17. He was signed to the New England practice squad on Dec. 27. McGuffie began his college career at Michigan as a running back, seeing action as a true freshman, before transferring to Rice. After two seasons as a running back at Rice, he made a successful transition from running back to slot receiver as a senior in 2012 and finished with 54 receptions for 603 yards and five touchdowns.
Orton, 27, spent part of 2011 and all of 2012 on the Denver practice squad. The 6-foot-3, 199-pounder originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with the Cincinnati Bengals out of Purdue in 2009. He had stints with the Arena Football League's Spokane Shock and the United Football League's Omaha Knights before joining the Denver practice squad. Orton went to training camp with Denver this past summer. He was signed by New England to the practice squad on Dec. 31.
Reed, 22, was originally signed by the Dallas Cowboys as a rookie free agent out of Southern Methodist on May 5, 2013. The 5-foot-11, 236-pounder was released by Dallas on Aug. 31 before being signed to the Cowboys practice squad on Nov. 18. He was released from the practice squad on Nov. 26. He joined the New England practice squad on Dec. 30.
