The New England Patriots didn’t wait long to pounce on a wide receiver the Carolina Panthers had just cut loose. New England claimed Kobe Prentice off waivers on Saturday, adding a speedy, undrafted rookie who lasted barely a day on Carolina’s roster before the Patriots scooped him up, according to reporter Aaron Wilson. To create the roster spot, New England released offensive lineman Sebastian Gutierrez, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
The Patriots also held their first public practice of 2026 training camp on Saturday.
Carolina had waived Prentice a day earlier to clear space after claiming offensive tackle Ryan Hayes off waivers from the Tennessee Titans, ending Prentice’s brief run with the Panthers pretty much before it began. He’d signed with Carolina in early May after going undrafted, and worked through spring practices and the first stretch of training camp before becoming a roster casualty.
Prentice’s Winding Road to New England
GettyReceiver Kobe Prentice in his time with the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Calera, Alabama, produced Prentice as a track sprinter turned football star, and the dual-threat background shows up on tape. He piled up 1,229 receiving yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior at Calera High School, earning consensus four-star billing and a spot among the top 15 wide receivers nationally by recruiting composite before he picked Alabama over Maryland.
“Fluid, fast receiver with elite change of direction skills and good ball skills,” scout Charles Power wrote of Prentice’s game, as reported by On3.
He never quite broke through with the Crimson Tide. Prentice caught 60 passes for 780 yards and five touchdowns across three seasons in Tuscaloosa, flashing big-play speed with a 47-yard touchdown against Kansas State and a 79-yard score against Arkansas but never cracking the every-down lineup, according to Alabama’s official athletics site.
A transfer to Baylor finally unlocked him. Prentice caught 26 passes for 380 yards and six touchdowns in his lone season with the Bears, scoring in all six of his first six games and hauling in a 73-yard touchdown at Oklahoma State. It was the most productive stretch of his college career.
Still, no team drafted him in April. Carolina signed him to a modest rookie deal, only to release him a day before the Patriots claimed him, according to RotoWire staff.
Why the Patriots Made the Move
New England has been openly auditioning receiver depth and return options all week, bringing in tryout players including Keagan Johnson and Casey Washington before turning to Prentice instead, according to Reiss.
The Patriots aren’t looking for a finished receiver. They’re chasing raw athleticism. A 4.39-second 40-yard dash, a 36-inch vertical and a track background that includes a sub-11-second 100 meters makes for the kind of profile teams covet for kickoff and punt-return duty, according to draft evaluator DraftScout.
Prentice arrives immediately competing for a bottom-of-the-roster spot or a practice-squad gig, and the Patriots will lean on training-camp reps and preseason snaps to find out whether his college burst translates to the NFL. Kick return duty looks like his fastest path onto the field early.
For a team still auditioning its receiver room deep into July, adding a cheap, explosive undrafted rookie costs almost nothing. Whether Prentice sticks past Labor Day depends entirely on what training camp reveals over the next several weeks.
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