Damiere Byrd Brings A Different Slant To Patriots’ Receiver Depth Chart

The slant route.

Last season with the Arizona Cardinals, Damiere Byrd caught 11 of his 32 passes in the process of running it.

Oftentimes, there was a stutter step off the line. Sometimes, there was an outside release that disguised his cut across the middle as a quick out to the sideline. And every once in a while, Byrd didn’t cut in either direction.

But cornerback facing the wide receiver did.

Byrd, who once clocked the 40-yard dash in 4.28 seconds and the three-cone drill in 6.6 seconds at the South Carolina pro day, grew limbs off a basic route tree. His track speed saw him collect each of his receptions on the outside during his lone year in Arizona.

And as a 5-foot-9, 180-pound ‘X’ receiver lined up in the shadows of Larry Fitzgerald and Christian Kirk, Byrd could be hard to see.

A slot receiver who wasn’t one.

Byrd turned what appeared to be outs into slants, and those slants into screens and curls and comebacks. Sprinkled in was one fly, fade, skinny post, in-cut and over route for completions. All took place from the left side of the offense’s formation.

A career-high 359 yards and one touchdown followed by way of No. 1 overall pick Kyler Murray.

In March, so did a roster transaction as Byrd became the New England Patriots’ first external acquisition of free agency.

Byrd’s one-year deal with New England carries a $350,000 signing bonus, a base salary of $1 million and up to $900,000 in incentives, as initially detailed by Field Yates of ESPN. A total of $600,000 is guaranteed.

Byrd will work into a depth chart that currently features Julian Edelman, Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry, Jakobi Meyers, Gunner Olszewski, Quincy Adeboyejo, Devin Ross and captain Matthew Slater. Current Seattle Seahawk Phillip Dorsett stands as the wideout room’s only free-agent departure since the new league year opened. Byrd projects to fill a similar speed role on offense while adding an element on special teams, where, in 2017, he returned a kickoff 103 yards for a touchdown.

Byrd spent his first four NFL seasons with the Carolina Panthers after going undrafted in 2015. Stints on the practice squad were met by stints on injured reserve due to a broken left arm. His stay in Carolina brought 12 receptions for 129 yards and two touchdowns. It brought along 10 kick returns and 12 punt returns.

Byrd left on a one-year pact with Arizona last spring having appeared in 17 career games.

“He’s just gotten better and better,” Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said of Byrd during a conference call with the Carolina media in September. “He’s a guy who everything we’ve tried to teach him – technique-wise, fundamentals – he’s taken it to heart and he’s worked at it. Great young man, high character, very conscientious player who works his butt off every day. He had some tough breaks with the injury – got that figured out. Playing at a high level, he’s a tough cover. He’s so quick and his routes have just improved dramatically. Really proud of what he’s doing right now.”

Byrd checked into 11 contests during his short stay in Arizona. His top receiving outputs arrived in a span of three weeks to close the campaign, with 86 yards versus the Cleveland Browns leading to 74 yards versus the Los Angeles Rams.

A gain of 51 transpired along the way as Byrd spun out of a triangle of Cleveland tacklers underneath. A score down at the goal line transpired, too, as he got inside leverage on a pattern that resembled something other than it was versus Los Angeles.

A slant can be many things if the foot speed can sell it.