Dewey McDonald claimed by the Patriots

With safeties Mike Adams and Clayton Geathers both expected to be back for Monday night's game against the Carolina Panthers, the Indianapolis Colts waived safety Dewey McDonald on Tuesday in order to make room for a wide receiver, Quan Bray.  McDonald has spent considerable amount of time with the Colts since his rookie year last year, and this year was a part of the practice squad until he was promoted last week.

It's likely that the Colts wanted to sign him to the practice squad again, but they had to wait until he cleared waivers in order to do that.  It turns out that McDonald didn't clear waivers, however, as according to reports he has been claimed by the New England Patriots.

Safety Dewey McDonald has been claimed by Patriots on waivers. Special teamer. Team will need to clear a roster spot.

— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) October 28, 2015

McDonald played in 15 games with the Colts last year (including the three playoff games) and recorded 16 special teams tackles, the second-highest total on the team.  He impressed as a special teams guy in his rookie year, but he was the odd man out at the safety position this year as the team opted to keep others ahead of him.  I think McDonald can contribute more than Winston Guy in the area of special teams, but the Colts decided to keep Guy instead.  They promoted McDonald to the active roster last week due to the injuries at the safety position, and he stepped in and played on special teams right away.  McDonald can be a nice contributor on special teams, and the Patriots surely noticed that and want to give him a shot.