The Patriots shuffled their running back room just before their 2026 preseason opener, signing veterans Hassan Haskins and JaMycal Hasty while waiving undrafted rookie Myles Montgomery. With the Colts game set for Thursday night, the move gives Mike Vrabel’s team two experienced, multipurpose backs who can step in right away.
That immediate readiness is the point. Haskins and Hasty both arrive with NFL mileage and the kind of flexibility teams value in August.
Haskins, a 2022 fourth-round pick, has appeared in 46 regular season and playoff games and brings a 6-foot-2, 228-pound frame without being limited to inside runs. He can catch the ball, handle pass protection work and contribute on kickoff returns.
Hasty offers a similar toolkit. He has been in the league since 2020, has played in 61 total games and can help on early downs, in the passing game and in the return game despite being listed at 5-foot-8, 205 pounds.
That kind of versatility matters because the Patriots are not expected to lean on Rhamondre Stevenson or TreVeyon Henderson in any meaningful way on Thursday. The new additions give New England more depth at a spot where the roster still has some competition left to sort out.
Right now, the Patriots’ backfield picture includes Stevenson, Henderson, Reggie Gilliam at fullback, Terrell Jennings, Lan Larison, Jam Miller, Haskins and Hasty. Stevenson and Henderson are roster locks, and the same goes for Gilliam.
Beyond that, the number of available spots is still fluid, though Jennings has looked like the frontrunner in recent practices. Haskins and Hasty will get a chance to show they belong, but any one of them making the 53 would say as much about their own adaptability as it would about the depth behind the top two backs.
There’s also familiarity baked into both signings. Haskins first entered the league with the Titans in 2022 and spent his first two seasons in Tennessee, where he played 15 games, totaled 36 touches for 150 yards on offense and returned 19 kickoffs for an average of 21.8 yards.
Hasty’s connection to New England runs deeper. He is one of the few current Patriots to have played under Bill Belichick, Jerod Mayo and Vrabel.
His time with Vrabel was brief - he spent last year’s training camp and preseason in Foxborough before being released in late August - but he did touch the ball 24 times for 91 yards in two exhibition games. He is also not starting from scratch with Josh McDaniels’ playbook.
The Patriots also took only a small hit on the salary cap. Montgomery’s removal did not affect the cap because his fully guaranteed signing bonus proration was already accounted for.
Haskins and Hasty, however, do count, with both signing identical one-year, $1.215 million minimum deals. The expectation is that they qualify for the veteran salary benefit, which lowers the actual cap hit to $1.075 million apiece.
That is enough to count toward the Top 51, but the overall change is minor: New England loses a combined $70,000 in cap space because Andy Borregales’ $1.005 million base salary gets pushed out of Top 51 status.
One more move still has to happen. Wednesday’s transactions involving Haskins and Montgomery were effectively roster-neutral, but Hasty’s signing puts the Patriots over the 90-man limit and means another transaction must follow before everything becomes official.
That next move could be a release, an injured reserve placement or a trade. The team’s roster count sits at 92 in total, though offensive tackle Lorenz Metz has an exemption because of his international status, which means New England can actually carry 91 players on the active roster.
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