Patriots: Injury Designations Galore In New England

On Sunday, August 25th, the New England Patriots waived 26-year-old receiver Maurice Harris and 25-year-old Keionta Davis. Brandon King was also placed on injured reserve. Here’s what this means for the team. 

Patriots Receiver Maurice Harris 

Harris was impressive in minicamp, OTAs and the beginning of training camp. Harris even recorded 3 catches for 27 yards and a touchdown in the first week of preseason against the Lions. But then he suffered an injury.

Initial reports from camp appeared to me as though the injury was unnoticed and minor. Unfortunately, it was made public that it may have been worse than initially expected. Due to all that, the Patriots decided it would be best to designate him (through waivers) to injured reserve, with a chance to return with an injury settlement. What this means is that every team has a chance to claim Maurice Harris off of waivers and sign him to the active roster and if he isn’t claimed, he would be placed on the injured reserve. 

Keionta Davis and Brandon King

Keionta Davis was an undrafted free agent defensive end that surprisingly made the initial 53-man roster last season. But in week one, Davis went down with an injury and placed on IR. Now this year, with all the defensive line competition, the Patriots are waiving him to IR, similar to Harris. 

As for Brandon King, he is going straight to IR. King has been a key special teams’ contributor for the Patriots since 2015. I did have King not making the team initially. However, it’s never easy to see a player go down the way King did. Everyone knew it was serious the minute King went down. Wishing nothing but the best in recovery his way. 

New Faces? 

Robert Martin

The Patriots signed two new players in the wake of the injury designations of Harris and Davis. First, running back Robert Martin. Martin was an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers. There, the 23-year-old recorded 2,274 yards on 449 carries and 18 rushing touchdowns through all four years there. He added to those stats an additional 20 receptions for 135 yards. His addition simply gives the Patriots a depth running back for the final preseason game, as Sony Michel, James White and Rex Burkhead sit out and Damien Harris recovers from injuries. There’s a very small chance he proves enough in one week to make the roster. 

Scooby Wright

The next addition is an interesting one, in linebacker Scooby Wright. However, he played his first game with the Arizona Cardinals back in 2016. He played 3 games, in fact. Wright posted 2 tackles in those 3 games, all of them assisted. The following year still with the Cardinals, he played in 10 games with 5 tackles, all of which were solo tackles. With Shilique Calhoun, Brandon King and Derek Rivers all down with injuries and the Patriots not wanting to risk starters, their linebackers are running thin. However, with his experience around the NFL, though small, is still somewhat valuable. Though he is still very much of a longshot to make the roster, he has a better chance than Martin does.

All stats via NFL.com

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