Patriots place OT Riley Reiff on IR, promote Pharaoh Brown to 53-man roster

Patriots

With Reiff now on IR, the veteran deal with will miss at the very least the primary 4 video games of the 2023 season.

The Patriots’ depth on the offensive line took one other hit on Monday night.

New England introduced a collection of roster strikes, with the group inserting veteran offensive lineman Riley Reiff on injured reserve. Reiff, who suffered a lower-body harm throughout New England’s preseason finale in opposition to the Titans on Aug. 25, will now miss at the very least the primary 4 video games of the 2023 common season.

In corresponding strikes, the Patriots signed tight finish Pharaoh Brown off the observe squad and added him to the 53-man roster, after which changed Brown on the observe squad by signing defensive deal with Jeremiah Pharms.

Reiff’s absence additional complicates a Patriots’ offensive line with loads of query marks, particularly at proper deal with.

New England handed Reiff a one-year, $5 million contract (second-highest-paid deal with on the roster) this offseason, with the 34-year-old projected as one of many group’s beginning tackles alongside Trent Brown going into coaching camp.

However Reiff didn’t stand out throughout reps at RT each throughout aggressive drills and in preseason motion, prompting New England to maneuver him to proper guard.

Reiff held his personal on the place through the Patriots’ preseason sport in opposition to the Packers. According to Pro Football Focus’ Louie Benjamin, Reiff logged 31 snaps in opposition to the Packers and didn’t give up a stress or get beat.

Despite the fact that the Patriots signed Reiff with the expectation of him slotting in at deal with, his stout play at RG opened a number of contingency plans for the Patriots, comparable to Reiff staying within the inside and Mike Onwenu shifting over to proper deal with.

There have been hints that Reiff was going to overlook some prolonged time, as New England went out and traded for tackles Tyrone Wheatley Jr. and Vederian Lowe simply two days after the sport in opposition to Tennessee.

Nonetheless, with Reiff out of the equation, the Patriots are nonetheless looking for a surefire answer at proper deal with. Each Wheatley Jr. and Lowe have upside, however want time to acclimate to New England’s system, whereas rookie Sidy Sow has gone by way of loads of rising pains since making the swap over to deal with throughout preseason play.

Fellow veteran Calvin Anderson impressed throughout spring classes at deal with, however then missed all of coaching camp and the preseason as a result of a non-football sickness. Anderson has since been activated and made the 53-man roster, however he’ll must get again in control shortly if he desires to line up at proper deal with this Sunday in opposition to the Eagles.

“It’s been restricted clearly, but it surely’s good to have Calvin again on the market,” Invoice Belichick stated Monday of Anderson’s standing. “It’s just like what we noticed from him within the spring and at Denver. He’s versatile, place flexibility to play each tackles. He’s a younger participant however he’s skilled sufficient to the place he can deal with quite a lot of issues and decide issues up faster than a rookie would, though he performed for an additional group. 

“He’s been in a position to, I’d say, transition fairly effectively from an project standpoint, method standpoint and we’ll see the way it goes. We’re type of working by way of a number of strikes there at deal with with Calvin, as you talked about, after which the 2 gamers that we acquired with [Vederian] Lowe and [Tyrone] Wheatley [Jr.], so we’ll see how issues come collectively. We gained three tackles there in sooner or later it appeared like and it was good to get that.”

With Brown activated, the Patriots now have three tight ends on the 53-man roster. Brown will function a depth function behind each Hunter Henry and Mike Gesicki.

Often called a blocking tight finish, Brown has caught 51 passes for 478 yards and two touchdowns over 55 profession video games within the NFL.