Analysis: Once again, opportunity knocking for new Patriots’ WR Dontrelle Inman

Dontrelle Inman arrives in New England with another opportunity.

The 30-year-old is a great story. Undrafted out of Virginia in 2011, the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder turned his back on the NFL and went to Canada, where he promptly caught 100 passes in two seasons for Toronto. The NFL reconsidered, and he signed a futures contract with the Chargers. In 2015, he scratched and clawed his way up from the back end of the roster, and saw his first real action when Malcom Floyd went down with an injury. In five seasons in the NFL, he has 158 receptions on 260 targets for 2,101 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Over the years, he’s caught passes from Philip Rivers, Mitch Trubisky and Andrew Luck (among others), and all three quarterbacks say he’s a dependable presence in the passing game.


"I would love to go back and watch how many catches he has had this year and how many of them were not really great throws," Rivers said of Inman in 2016.

“He's really smart and he's ball savvy,” Trubisky said of Inman in 2017. “He runs really good routes and he catches the ball, so he's getting open for us, creating separation -- and that makes it easier on me.”

“He’s very consistent,’’ Luck said of Inman last year. “That makes it easy for a quarterback to pick up somewhat of a rapport pretty quickly.”

I talked to someone who saw Inman play a ton with the Chargers from 2014 to 2017, and he had this to say about him: “Solid dude. Hard worker, great route runner and smart player. He’s competitive and should elevate competition in the wide receiver room. Limited athlete, but knows how to get open and understands defenses. I think the issue for Inman, like a lot of players, is he believes that he’s better than what others think of him. Wants the ball more than maybe he deserves. Injuries also have limited him. But he should be a good fit for what he’s asked to do in NE.”