The Patriots are learning the hard way how much Carlton Davis III was propping up the back end of their defense.
Davis sat out his third straight game on Thursday night with a neck injury, and the absence showed up fast in Chicago. With New England already thin behind Christian Gonzalez, Marcus Jones has been pushed outside far more than usual, and the move has put him in spots that don’t fit his game nearly as well.
That’s where the trouble started.
Jones has long been one of the Patriots’ most valuable defenders when he’s working from the slot, but this season he’s been living on the boundary. According to Pro Football Focus, he has already played 93 outside snaps in 2026, more than he logged all of last season, when he had 60. The result has been a rough stretch in coverage, including PFF grades of 48.8 against the Raiders and 37.4 against the Bears.
The bigger issue is what Davis’ absence is forcing the Patriots to do structurally. New England has leaned away from blitzing in recent weeks, dropping from a 44.8% blitz rate through Weeks 1-3 to 26.7% over its last two games.
Part of that comes from the quarterbacks they were facing, Josh Allen and Caleb Williams, since zone coverage helps keep more eyes on mobile passers. But the Patriots have also had to adjust because they’re missing the corner who helps make their preferred looks work.
New England came into Week 7 with the NFL’s third-highest man-to-man coverage rate at 31.2%, but against Allen and Williams, zone made sense. The problem is that Williams looked very comfortable attacking those looks early on Thursday. Per Patriots reporter Evan Lazar, he completed seven of his first 10 attempts against zone for 117 yards, and the Bears had no trouble getting the ball to Luther Burden and their other skill players in space on the way to a 20-7 halftime lead.
Davis’ absence is a big reason the Patriots have been stuck in that gear. With their top cover man unavailable opposite Gonzalez, they’ve had to lean harder on zone and less on the aggressive, suffocating pressure packages they prefer.
Jones has been asked to absorb a role that doesn’t suit him perfectly, and the physical toll showed up against Chicago. He missed six tackles in the game, according to PFF. For the season, he already has nine missed tackles in 365 snaps, after missing 11 during the 2025 season, including the playoffs, on a career-high 905 snaps.
None of that means Jones has suddenly become a problem. He’s still a key piece of the defense, and once he gets back to facing more slot receivers, he should settle back into a more natural rhythm. But right now, the Patriots are asking him to handle bigger matchups on the outside, and that’s exposing the limitations of the setup.
Week 8 against the Dolphins could bring a reset. New England will have a 10-day break between games, and Davis was a limited participant in practice this week before being ruled out on Wednesday. That at least opens the door for a return.
And the Patriots need it badly.
Davis doesn’t just fill a spot. He changes what the defense can actually do.
More of the coverages that are supposed to be the foundation. More freedom to use Jones in the slot.
More chances to unleash the blitz packages that have made quarterbacks uneasy.
After what happened against the Bears, his value is impossible to miss.
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