New England Patriots News & Rumors

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/27/20

We’ll keep track of the practice squad moves from the past day here:

Arizona Cardinals

Baltimore Ravens

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Dallas Cowboys

Jacksonville Jaguars

  • Released: T Jared Hilbers

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

  • Signed: K Austin MacGinnis

Minnesota Vikings

New England Patriots

New York Giants

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Patriots LB Brandon Copeland Done For The Year

The Patriots got steamrolled on Sunday when they lost 33-6 to the 49ers, and now they’ll be without a key depth piece moving forward. Linebacker Brandon Copeland has told teammates he has a torn pec and is done for the season, a source told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com (Twitter link).

Copeland, signed to a cheap one-year deal back in March, is a core special teamer but has also been playing a real role on defense this year. He’s played a decent chunk of the defensive snaps in a few games, and is credited with four starts. His 2020 season will conclude with 12 tackles, one for a loss.

The Penn product signed with the Ravens as an UDFA back in 2013, but he didn’t make his regular season debut until 2015 with the Lions. After two years in Detroit as a special teamer he tore a pec in the 2017 preseason, and signed with the Jets the following year where he earned a big role on defense. In 16 games and 10 starts with New York in 2018, he racked up five sacks, two passes defended, and eight tackles for loss.

Newton Not Getting Benched

The Patriots took an ugly loss Sunday as they got demolished 33-6 by the visiting 49ers. Things got so bad that Jarrett Stidham came in and replaced Cam Newton somewhat early in the fourth quarter and played the rest of the game. Newton had just 98 yards and three interceptions before exiting, but he isn’t in any danger of losing his starting job at the moment. Head coach Bill Belichick said after the game that Newton was “absolutely” still his starter.

He added that he just wanted to get the youngster Stidham some more game experience by throwing him out there in a contest that was already decided. Newton now has five interceptions and no passing touchdowns over his past two games since returning from catching COVID-19. It’s unclear whether the virus messed with his conditioning or if anything else is ailing him, but his play has dropped off dramatically from his hot start as a member of the Patriots. Whatever the case, it doesn’t sound like Belichick is planning on making a switch under center anytime soon.

Trade Rumors: Giants, Ryan, Fuller

After dealing Markus Golden to the Cardinals, it appears the 1-6 Giants have officially declared themselves sellers at this year’s trade deadline. Though GM Dave Gettleman may be reluctant to trade away veteran talent that could theoretically help Big Blue win a few games — and perhaps save Gettleman’s job in the process — players like Evan Engram, Kevin Zeitler, and Golden Tate could be available, as Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post writes (though Ian Rapoport of NFL.com says the club is unlikely to deal Engram).

2017 second-round DT Dalvin Tomlinson could also be on the move, per Dunleavy. Tomlinson is playing out the last year of his rookie contract, and while he has expressed interest in staying with the Giants long-term, there has been little progress in contract talks.

As we creep closer to the November 3 deadline, let’s round up a few more trade rumors from around the league:

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/24/20

Here is another spree of Saturday minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Atlanta Falcons

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

  • Moved from IR to reserve/COVID-19 list: CB Michael Joseph

Cincinnati Bengals

Dallas Cowboys

Green Bay Packers

Jacksonville Jaguars

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

  • Promoted: CB Dylan Mabin

New England Patriots

New Orleans Saints

New York Jets

  • Activated from IR: OL Cameron Clark
  • Promoted: K/P Sergio Castillo, LB Bryce Hager

Pittsburgh Steelers

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tennessee Titans

Washington Football Team

Patriots To Activate C David Andrews

After Shaq Mason‘s recent return to practice from the Patriots’ reserve/COVID-19 list, the team will have another starter back Sunday. David Andrews will come off IR ahead of the Pats’ Week 7 game, Jeff Howe of The Athletic tweets.

Andrews has missed 19 of the past 21 Patriots games, being shelved for the 2019 season because of blood clots and missing the past three New England contests because of a thumb injury. He and Mason’s returns will be key for a Pats team coming off a home upset loss to the Broncos.

Prior to Andrews’ run of bad luck, he had started all but four of New England’s games since the start of the 2015 season. The Pats’ offense has looked considerably worse in Andrews’ absence the past three weeks, though other factors have contributed to that.

New England will be without right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor — placed on IR this week — but is set to have four of its five Week 1 starters back Sunday against the 49ers. The non-Week 1 starter set to play Sunday — sixth-round rookie Michael Onwenu — has been a pleasant surprise. Onwenu has played right tackle and both guard spots this season, doing so because of the Patriots’ litany of injuries up front. He will likely see time at right tackle against San Francisco.

Minor NFL Transactions: 10/21/20

Here are Wednesday’s minor moves:

Buffalo Bills

Carolina Panthers

Detroit Lions

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

  • Activated from reserve/COVID-19 list: OL Matt Pryor

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Football Team

2020 NFL Cap Space, By Team

As shown by Le’Veon Bell‘s recent deal with the Chiefs, big name free agents can come available at any point throughout the season. His contract wasn’t particularly pricey, but teams like to keep cash on hand during the year, especially when mulling potential trades before the deadline. Excess cap room can also be rolled over from year-to-year and give clubs the opportunity to lock up their most valuable players with extensions.

Here are the most recent figures for each team, via Over The Cap:

  1. Cleveland Browns – $33.1MM
  2. New York Jets – $27.9MM
  3. Dallas Cowboys — $23.9MM
  4. Washington Football Team – $23.6MM
  5. Jacksonville Jaguars– $22.9MM
  6. New England Patriots – $22.9MM
  7. Denver Broncos – $19.7MM
  8. Detroit Lions – $17MM
  9. Philadelphia Eagles– $18MM
  10. Miami Dolphins – $15.8MM
  11. Indianapolis Colts – $10.4MM
  12. Pittsburgh Steelers – $9.6MM
  13. Cincinnati Bengals– $9MM
  14. Baltimore Ravens – $9MM
  15. Arizona Cardinals– $8.9MM
  16. Chicago Bears – $8.4MM
  17. Tennessee Titans – $8.3MM
  18. Houston Texans – $8.1MM
  19. Los Angeles Chargers — $8MM
  20. New Orleans Saints – $8MM
  21. Green Bay Packers – $7.7MM
  22. New York Giants – $7.2MM
  23. Los Angeles Rams – $7MM
  24. Las Vegas Raiders – $6.3MM
  25. Carolina Panthers – $6.2MM
  26. Kansas City Chiefs – $5.8MM
  27. Buffalo Bills – $5MM
  28. San Francisco 49ers – $4MM
  29. Seattle Seahawks – $4MM
  30. Atlanta Falcons – $2MM
  31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $1.4MM
  32. Minnesota Vikings – $158K

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 10/19/20

We’ll keep track of today’s practice squad moves here:

Detroit Lions

Jacksonville Jaguars

New England Patriots

Philadelphia Eagles

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

 

Patriots Place Sony Michel, Shaq Mason, Derek Rivers On Reserve/COVID-19 List

Just as the Patriots took their two highest-profile players off the reserve/COVID-19 list, they placed three more players on it. Sony Michel, Shaq Mason and Derek Rivers landed on the list Saturday, per Field Yates of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

Michel has tested positive, Jeff Howe of The Athletic reports (on Twitter). Mason and Rivers have not. Although Michel was on New England’s IR list, this is certainly a situation to monitor for the league. The NFL moved the Patriots’ Week 4 game to Monday after Cam Newton‘s positive test surfaced the previous Saturday and postponed the Denver-New England Week 5 game to the following Monday and then, after another Pats positive test emerged Sunday morning, delayed it another week.

Players do not have to test positive for the coronavirus to be placed on teams’ COVID lists; they can land on there if they are deemed close contacts of someone who has tested positive. The Pats took Newton and Stephon Gilmore off their list this week but still have multiple players on it. James Ferentz and defensive end Byron Cowart were already on New England’s COVID list.

Approaching 4pm CT Saturday, the Pats’ Week 6 game against the Broncos remains scheduled for noon Sunday. The NFL was aware of the team’s impending Saturday adjustment to its COVID list, per Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (on Twitter). However, the Pats did not resume practice until Thursday — after their game against the Broncos was moved off its Monday date — and canceled their in-person workouts Friday because of another positive test.

Michel has been on New England’s IR list since before their Week 4 game against the Chiefs; Mason missed Week 4 and was questionable for Week 6. The Pats will be down Mason and Ferentz from their starting O-line on Sunday, should the game remain scheduled. Rivers has played 21% of the Patriots’ defensive snaps this season; the defensive end has 1.5 sacks.

To help with depth, the Pats have elevated tackle Caleb Benenoch, tight end Rashod Berry, defensive end Nick Thurman and wide receiver Isaiah Zuber from their practice squad to their active roster.