Ja'Lynn Polk explains why he thought Patriots cut him from team

The Patriots moved his locker without informing him beforehand. When he came into the locker room, he saw the name "Lester Cotton" written on his locker. Cotton is the offensive guard the Patriots claimed off waivers last week.

When Polk didn't see his name, he initially thought the team had cut him. The timing was bad considering his on-field struggles in his first season. The second-round draft pick out of the University of Washington has only 12 receptions for 87 yards and two touchdowns through 12 games.

A sense of relief came over Polk when he finally found his locker on the other side of the room next to veteran Kendrick Bourne.

“I had no clue. I came here one morning, didn’t realize it, didn’t look up and see my name was gone,” Polk told reporters, via MassLive's Karen Guregian. “When I came back from watching film, I go to my locker, I looked up, and realized that wasn’t my locker. Then somebody else mentioned, ‘Hey, that’s not your locker’ like, ‘Where you go?’

“I was thinking I was gone for a second. I was like, ‘Shoot, they got rid of me already?’'

This must have been a scary experience for a rookie still trying to find his footing at the next level. Polk can joke about it now, but the pressure to perform still remains for the young receiver.