We haven't seen the last of former Auburn cornerback D.J. James in the NFL just yet. After the Seattle Seahawks waived him on roster cutdown day and did not sign him back to their practice squad, it looked like he might not get another shot. James will get at least a second act in the league, though. According to a report by Mike Reiss at ESPN, the New England Patriots are signing James to their practice squad.
James was picked by Seattle on Day 3 of the 2024 NFL draft, along with his former Auburn teammate, cornerback Nehemiah Pritchett. While Pritchett passed the preseason test, that wasn't the case for James, who had issues with tackling, coverage and penalties. He was their weakest leak defensively for their three games in August.
Slower, smaller cornerbacks have made solid careers for themselves, but James' relative lack of size and agility may be a deal-breaker at this level, at least based on what we saw in preseason.
As it happens, New England is coming off a loss to the Seahawks, losing at home by a score of 23-20 in overtime. After the Patriots got stuffed on their initial possession to begin the extra period, Geno Smith engineered another game-winning scoring drive, his ninth since becoming Seattle's starter in 2022. That set up Jason Myers for the game-winning field goal. The 2-0 start to the season for rookie head coach Mike Macdonald is the first time in franchise history that a new coach has started the season 2-0.
