Nevada Professional Athletes

Romeo Doubs: The Catch That Cost Him

Leave it to a Wolf Pack alum to make the most dramatic exit possible.

Nevada wide receiver Romeo Doubs hauled in a 42-yard touchdown catch against the New York Jets on Sunday — the kind of play that reminds everyone why the Patriots signed him — and then walked off the field with a shoulder injury that would end his season for at least a month. New England won the game 26-19, moving to 4-2, but the cost was steep.

The Patriots placed Doubs on injured reserve the following day, triggering a mandatory four-week absence. Per the IR timeline, he won't be eligible to return until after New England's bye week in late November, meaning the earliest he suits up again is Week 11 at the soonest.

The injury lands at a particularly frustrating moment. Doubs had been positioned as the No. 2 receiver behind A.J. Brown in head coach Mike Vrabel's offense — a genuine target option for second-year quarterback Drake Maye. One catch, one touchdown, one exit. That's the entire box score for what turned out to be one of the more bittersweet individual performances a Wolf Pack alum has had this NFL season.

The Patriots responded quickly to the roster crunch, signing receiver Elliott Davison to the active roster and adding former Dolphins wideout Ryan Miller to the practice squad. New England is now leaning on DeMario "Pop" Douglas and A.J. Brown to absorb the workload Doubs leaves behind.

Elsewhere Around the League

Doubs dominated the Nevada alumni headlines this week, but he wasn't the only Wolf Pack product active across the league.

Kitan Crawford suited up for the Arizona Cardinals in their 18-16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, though the safety did not register notable individual stats in the team's narrow defeat.

The rest of Nevada's extensive NFL roster — which spans teams from the Browns to the Chargers to the Bears — had a quieter week with no standout performances surfacing in the research period. Joel Bitonio (Browns, G), Daiyan Henley (Chargers, LB), and Tory Horton (Seahawks, WR) are among the alumni who remain active contributors on their respective rosters heading into Week 7.

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The Doubs situation is the story that stings. One game, one spectacular moment, four weeks on the shelf — it's a sequence Nevada fans will be watching closely as November approaches and the IR clock ticks down toward a potential return.

Romeo Doubs had a forgettable Week 6. One catch, 16 yards, in a 45–17 blowout win over the Raiders — the kind of stat line that barely registers even in a lopsided game. But the bigger story isn't what happened against Las Vegas. It's what's coming next.

A.J. Brown, the Patriots' designated No. 1 receiver, is expected back from injured reserve, and his return threatens to fundamentally reshape New England's passing hierarchy. Brown had been sidelined long enough for Doubs — signed this offseason after leaving Green Bay — to carve out a role in Drake Maye's offense. That window appears to be closing fast.

The Target Squeeze

When Brown is healthy, he commands a disproportionate share of Maye's attention. His return essentially reorders the depth chart in real time, pushing Doubs back toward the WR2 role at best — and potentially into near-irrelevance against opposing coverages designed to bracket the alpha. Demario Douglas and Hunter Henry are also in the target mix, leaving precious little volume to go around.

Doubs's Week 6 performance, quiet even accounting for the blowout context, does little to argue for expanding his role. A single reception in a game New England won by 28 points suggests Maye wasn't leaning on him even when the game script was favorable.

The fantasy football community has already moved swiftly — Doubs's value is described as having "plummeted" in the wake of Brown's anticipated return, a harsh-but-honest assessment of where things stand.

Crawford Gets a Lifeline in Arizona

Away from the receiver drama, Nevada safety Kitan Crawford received some positive news of his own. The Arizona Cardinals designated Crawford for return from injured reserve this week, opening his 21-day practice window. Crawford, a second-year safety, now has an opportunity to work his way back to the active roster before the season slips further away.

The Cardinals also added tight end Shawn Bowman to the active roster in the same transaction window, signaling Arizona is actively managing its depth as the season reaches its midpoint.

The Bottom Line

For Wolf Pack fans tracking their NFL alumni, it's a week of contrasts. Doubs is healthy but facing a role contraction that has nothing to do with his performance and everything to do with roster construction around him. Crawford, meanwhile, is fighting his way back onto the field entirely. Both situations bear watching over the next few weeks — Doubs for whether he can maintain relevance in a suddenly crowded New England receiver room, and Crawford for whether he can return and hold a spot on a Cardinals defense still sorting out its secondary.