Patriots Rumors: Ex-Jaguars WR Marqise Lee Signs 1-Year Contract Ahead of Draft

The New England Patriots apparently didn't want to wait until Thursday's NFL draft to bolster the wide receiver position.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the AFC East team is signing Marqise Lee to a one-year deal. Lee spent the first five seasons of his career playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars, but the team waived him Monday.

Jacksonville selected Lee out of USC with a second-round pick in the 2014 NFL draft, but durability concerns and injuries defined much of his tenure in the AFC South.

He played just 10 games in 2015, missed the entire 2018 campaign with a knee injury and appeared in only six games last year because of a shoulder injury.

However, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported Lee is "fully healthy and completely cleared medically" after the Jaguars released him.

New England can use help at wide receiver seeing how Julian Edelman was the only reliable option at the position last year for a team that relied on its defense to make the playoffs. Edelman finished the year with 1,117 receiving yards and was the only Patriots wide receiver who even reached the 400-yard mark.

While Lee had just three catches for 18 yards last year, he showed his ceiling in 2016 with 63 catches for 851 yards and three touchdowns.

In 2017, he helped lead the Jaguars to the AFC Championship Game behind 56 catches for 702 yards and three touchdowns.

The USC product is still just 28 years old and could thrive in single coverage for the Patriots when opposing secondaries are focused on stopping Edelman.