Patriots have no true X receiver as they accept Harry as a big Bodied slot and cut Sanu.

The Patriots drafted N'keal Harry to be the X receiver. A big bodied, fifty fifty guy to work the outside. In Harry's last year at Arizona, Harry excelled being a big Bodied slot receiver. After a failed experiment, on the outside the Patriots are going to use him as a slot receiver.

While the Patriots have some guys with speed, by using Harry in a slot or Flanker role, the Patriots don't have any big Bodied X or split end receivers. Their entire core is comprised of slot (Y) and flanker (Z) receivers. 

With that, the Patriots opted to release Sanu. Sanu had one good game after coming to the Patriots. Due to playing with what should've been a season ending injury, he never contributed how the Patriots extended him to being traded for a second round pick. When Sanu arrived in camp, he looked slow and didn't stand out. He definitely didn't look like he was worth his pay grade. Cutting Sanu saved now saved them a cap hit. 

The only other receivers on the team standing 72 inches or more areIsaiah Zuber, at 6'0" and Jakobi Meyers at 6'2", both far from a roster locks.

The Patriots run the "Air West Spread" and even with can and all the zone plays they're gonna run, how the pass catchers are used really isn't gonna change. The only major difference is the quarterbacks are gonna be expected to throw on the run. With Newton and Stidham being mobile quarterbacks, they should be able to do this at higher levels than Brady, thus allowing McDaniels to use more air raid concepts. 

With Newton being named the starter vs Miami, we'll get to see how well he can handle those concepts first, and how well he connects with Harry. The season is now just nine days away.