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New England Patriots News & Rumors

Patriots’ Raekwon McMillan Tears ACL

August 7th, 2021 at 1:12pm CST by Zachary Links

Patriots linebacker Raekwon McMillan tore his ACL while practicing earlier this week (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport). That marks the second ACL tear of McMillan’s career and the end of his 2021 season. is the second torn ACL for the former #Dolphins 2nd round pick, but this time on the other knee. 

This time around, it’s McMillan’s other knee. It’s another frustrating setback for the former Dolphins second-round pick who was once ticketed for a sizable role in Miami’s front seven.

McMillan spent the early part of his career with the Dolphins before being shipped to the Raiders in August of 2020. He came off the bench in most games, finishing the year with 27 stops and one forced fumble.

Before that, he flashed at times in South Beach and even ranked as the Dolphins’ best defensive player in 2019, per to Pro Football Focus. The Dolphins considered a long-term extension for him at one point but, ultimately, they were unwilling to commit, especially at the height of the pandemic.

Despite his ups, downs, and suspect pass coverage, the Patriots were excited to add him on a one-year deal earlier this year. Unfortunately, he won’t be able to join fellow newcomer Matt Judon in the LB group – at least, not until 2022.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/31/21

July 31st, 2021 at 8:26pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

We’ve got a bunch of minor moves to report from what turned out to be a pretty busy Saturday in the NFL:

Atlanta Falcons

Cleveland Browns

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

New York Giants

New York Jets

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Football Team

  • Claimed off waivers from Dolphins: OL Ross Reynolds

Hundley is the biggest signing on this list. The Colts adding him is a pretty good sign they expect Carson Wentz to miss some significant time. Assuming Wentz misses games, Hundley will battle it out with second-year pro Jacob Eason.

A couple of kickers who have started a bunch of games both found themselves sent packing in Ficken and Rosas. Mannion latched on with the Seahawks. He’s familiar with new Seattle OC Shane Waldron from their time together with the Rams, explaining why the Seahawks added him as an option behind Russell Wilson.

AFC East Notes: Waddle, Wilson, Jets, Pats

July 29th, 2021 at 3:54pm CST by Sam Robinson

Jaylen Waddle missed most of his senior season at Alabama due to a broken ankle. While that injury occurred back in October, the top-10 pick does not appear to have fully recovered. Waddle’s ankle remains an issue at Dolphins camp, according to Adam Beasley of the Pro Football Network. Some with the Dolphins do not believe the No. 6 overall pick has regained his full explosiveness just yet, Beasley adds. The former Tua Tagovailoa Tuscaloosa weapon has walked with a limp during training camp but has gone through practices, avoiding a stay on Miami’s active/PUP list. Although the Dolphins have three first-round wideouts on their roster, with free agent pickup Will Fuller joining DeVante Parker, Waddle is the highest-drafted receiver in team history.

Here is the latest from the AFC East:

  • The Jets making Zach Wilson the last of this year’s 259 draftees to sign is not especially surprising, given the timing of the sides’ negotiations. The Jets did not begin negotiating with the No. 2 overall pick until last week, per The Athletic’s Jeff Howe (on Twitter). Gang Green wanted Wilson to defer $6MM of his signing bonus to 2022, but when the team agreed to pay it all this year, Wilson flew to the Big Apple. While payment schedule was an issue for Wilson’s camp, SNY’s Ralph Vacchiano notes offset language was the top concern for the quarterback. Once the Jets agreed to pay out his bonus within 15 days, however, the BYU product caved on offsets, which are present in his deal.
  • Marcus Maye and the Jets never came close on a deal ahead of the franchise tag extension deadline, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com notes. With a Maye tag in 2022 costing the Jets $12.7MM, Cimini expects this season to be it for Maye with the team. The Jets appear intent on gauging Maye’s fit in Robert Saleh‘s defense, but the timing here may well lead Maye elsewhere next year. Maye and Jamal Adams started together for three seasons on Gang Green’s back line. It is now looking likely each will have passed through before receiving a big payday with another team.
  • Two-year incumbent Sam Ficken and rookie UDFA Chris Naggar are vying for the Jets’ kicker job, but the team held a workout recently at this position. Matthew McCrane, Matt Ammendola and Haidar Zaidan worked out for the team this week, Aaron Wilson of Sports Talk 790 tweets. Of the three, McCrane is the only one to kick in an NFL game. And that came back in 2018.
  • The Patriots received a slight boost in their salary cap space this week. Patrick Chung‘s retirement being officially processed created $891K in cap space for the Pats, Pro Football Focus’ Doug Kyed tweets. Chung opted out last season but announced his retirement in March. New England currently carries just more than $13MM in cap space.

Patriots Claim QB Jake Dolegala

July 28th, 2021 at 6:54pm CST by Ben Levine

The Patriots have added another quarterback. The team announced today that they’ve claimed quarterback Jake Dolegala off waivers from the Packers. The 24-year-old was waived by Green Bay yesterday.

More notably, it sounds like today’s transaction was insurance for another QB on the roster. According to Jeff Howe of The Athletic (via Twitter), backup Jarrett Stidham “isn’t expected back in the near future.” The quarterback landed on the physically unable to perform list earlier this week, and Howe writes that the player is battling a shoulder injury that could ultimately lead to surgery.

At one time, it was believed that Stidham could be the heir apparent to Tom Brady. Instead, the 2019 fourth-round pick barely played during his sophomore season, and he fell further down the depth chart when the team added Mac Jones this offseason. The Auburn product will be 25 by the start of the next season, and despite collecting only 48 attempts through two seasons, it’s unlikely his NFL career is in danger. However, it’s looking like he doesn’t have much of a future in New England.

Dolegala actually spent most of his rookie season on the Patriots practice squad, and after earning a reserve/future contract in January, he was waived by the team in April. His best chance of sticking with the Patriots is probably via the practice squad; even with Stidham temporarily out of the picture, the team is still rostering Jones, Cam Newton, and Brian Hoyer.

Patriots Cut WR Devin Smith

July 27th, 2021 at 10:16pm CST by Ben Levine

Bill Belichick has had some previous success with former-Jets reclamation projects, but Devin Smith apparently won’t be one of them. The Patriots announced today that they’ve released the wide receiver.

Smith joined the NFL as a second-round pick (No. 37) in 2015, but he didn’t show much during his first two seasons in the NFL. In two years with the Jets, the wideout collected only 10 receptions for 135 yards and one touchdown in 14 games (three starts). To be fair, a torn ACL derailed his rookie campaign, and another ACL tear in 2017 forced him to miss the entire season. The receiver was ultimately waived by the team in 2018 and ended up sitting out that entire season, as well.

He got another chance in 2019 with the Cowboys, finishing with five receptions for 113 yards and one touchdown in four games (two starts). He was released by Dallas prior to last season, and he spent most of the 2020 campaign on the Texans and Patriots practice squad.

New England held on to him for the entire offseason but ultimately decided to move on. Smith would have been an interesting piece for the Patriots, but the organization already has plenty of their own projects behind Jakobi Meyers and free agent additions Kendrick Bourne and Nelson Agholor.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/23/21

July 23rd, 2021 at 5:21pm CST by Zachary Links

We’ll keep track of today’s minor moves here:

Arizona Cardinals

Jacksonville Jaguars

Miami Dolphins

  • Signed: CB Cre’Von LeBlanc
  • Waived: DE Nick Coe, LS Rex Sunahara

New England Patriots

  • Signed: TE David Wells

New York Jets

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Patriots Co-Offensive Line Coach Off Staff Due To COVID-19 Policy

July 23rd, 2021 at 3:25pm CST by Sam Robinson

Following Rick Dennison‘s departure from the Vikings due to a COVID-19 vaccine refusal, the Patriots will also part ways with one of their offensive line coaches.

Co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich is off the Patriots’ staff, Jim McBride of the Boston Globe reports. Popovich is gone due to his refusal to comply with the NFL’s vaccine policy, Mike Reiss of ESPN.com adds (on Twitter). Popovich and Carmen Bricillo worked as co-O-line coaches in New England last season, but McBride adds the latter will helm the position solo this year.

Popovich, 36, has been with the Patriots since 2016. He broke into the NFL on Bill Belichick‘s staff and moved up to assistant running backs coach in 2019. In 2020, the Pats promoted he and Bricillo to fill the void created by famed O-line coach Dante Scarnecchia‘s retirement. Popovich’s NFL career is now in limbo.

In order to work with players, coaches must be vaccinated. The NFL has not required players to be vaccinated, but staffers — in order to qualify for Tier 1 or Tier 2 status — must either do so or provide medical or religious grounds for refusing. Teams are not permitted to cut players because of their refusal to be vaccinated, though they can jettison unvaccinated players for other reasons. However, no such rule is in place for coaches. NFL chief medical officer Dr. Allen Sills said Friday nearly 100% of NFL staffs are vaccinated, so it will be interesting to see if any additional coaches are moved off staff in the coming days.

CB Stephon Gilmore Reports To Patriots

July 22nd, 2021 at 5:22pm CST by Ben Levine

Stephon Gilmore continues to push for a new contract, but the standoff won’t keep him away from Foxborough. Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the former Defensive Player of the Year reported to Gillette Stadium today. However, the veteran cornerback will temporarily sit on the PUP list.

We heard recently that the Patriots hadn’t made any progress on an extension with Gilmore. The cornerback previously hinted that he’d be satisfied with a simply bump in pay for the 2020 campaign, and some pundits believe the organization could find a compromise by offering Gilmore an incentive-based increase (similar to what they previously did with the likes of Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski). Gilmore is presumably waiting for an offer that contains more guaranteed money, explaining why he skipped the team’s entire offseason program, including mandatory minicamp.

Gilmore, 31 in September, is set to make just $7MM in base salary this season after a chunk of his money was advanced in 2020. In terms of average annual value ($13MM), the 2019 Defensive Player of the Year ranks as just the 13th highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. At the time of signing, his five-year, $65MM deal was plenty. Since then, the former Bills first-round pick has performed as one of the game’s premier cover men.

There’s mutual interest in a longer arrangement, since Gilmore was a first-team All-Pro in 2018 and ’19.However, questions persist about last year’s torn quad. Either way, barring an unexpected development, it sounds like the defensive back will at least spend the 2021 season with New England.

Gilmore was one of a handful of Patriots players to land on PUP today. He’ll be joined by defensive tackle Byron Cowart, linebacker Terez Hall, tight end Dalton Keene, linebacker Brandon King, wideout Devin Smith, quarterback Jarrett Stidham, and linebacker Chase Winovich.

Minor NFL Transactions: 7/21/21

July 21st, 2021 at 9:00pm CST by Ben Levine

Today’s minor NFL transactions:

Baltimore Ravens

New England Patriots

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Patriots Sign Christian Barmore

July 21st, 2021 at 1:29pm CST by Zachary Links

The Patriots have inked defensive tackle Christian Barmore, per a club announcement. As the No. 38 overall pick, Barmore will earn $8.5MM on his four-year contract. 

Barmore skipped two years of Alabama eligibility to go pro, joining fellow underclassmen Jaylen Waddle, Patrick Surtain II, and Mac Jones in the 2021 NFL Draft pool. After taking Jones in Round 1, the Pats shipped pick Nos. 46, 122 and 139 to the Bengals for No. 38, where they grabbed Barmore.

Barmore, the defensive MVP of the National Championship Game, notched 37 tackles, eight sacks, and three forced fumbles last year. He finished 2020 as Pro Football Focus’ top-ranked interior lineman in college and seemed to be on track for the first round. For one reason or another, he slipped, leading him to Bill Belichick & Co. in the second round.

With Barmore in the fold, the Patriots now have their entire 2021 draft class signed. Here’s the full breakdown:

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