The Patriots have spent the days after cutdown day doing what so many teams do when they know the roster isn’t finished: shuffling pieces at the edges and trying to make the back end sturdier. New England reached the 2026 53-man roster deadline, but the work has kept going, and that’s no surprise given that Mike Vrabel has already made it clear this is not a deep team.
One of the more interesting moves in that churn involved running back Lan Larison. The Patriots waived him and then brought him back on the practice squad, a decision that looks like a compromise more than a true endorsement. Keeping the second-year back on the 53 would have made plenty of sense, but the trade with Arizona for Corey Kiner pushed Larison down the pecking order.
Kiner, who was moved straight onto the roster as the third running back, didn’t exactly arrive with eye-popping production behind him. The 5-foot-10, 213-pound back put up 79 carries for 229 yards and two touchdowns in 2025 as an undrafted free agent rookie. That still topped Larison’s numbers, though only because Larison spent the entire season on injured reserve.
The thing with Larison is that the Patriots already had the evidence of what he can do when he’s healthy. His college résumé at UC Davis pointed to a back who can handle both halves of the job: running the ball and catching it.
His final season there was loaded. Larison rushed for 1,465 yards and 17 touchdowns, then added 62 receptions for 847 yards and six more scores. That kind of production makes it pretty easy to see why keeping him around felt like the smarter play.
New England did at least get him back on the practice squad, which matters because running back is one of the easiest spots on a roster to get thinned out by injury. Larison being there gives the Patriots a player they can call on if they need someone to step in and contribute quickly.
He showed a little of that versatility in the preseason, too. Larison finished with 38 rushing yards on 11 carries and 79 receiving yards on nine catches for New England. That receiving work is where he could end up making the biggest impact if he gets elevated to a game-day roster.
Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson can both catch the ball, but Larison may be just as useful, if not more so, as a pass-game option. Kiner brings more of a straight-ahead running profile. At Cincinnati, he had back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons on the ground, but his best receiving total in college was just 16 catches for 111 yards in 2024.
That’s why waiving Larison on cutdown day looks like a gamble. The Patriots were smart enough to bring him back, but that still leaves a small opening for another team to claim him. And with the way running backs get banged up over the course of a season, New England may end up needing the very player it nearly let get away.
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The remaining question is whether the line can give him enough time to make all of it matter. If that part comes together, the Patriots could be looking at a much bigger leap from their quarterback than the one he already managed in his second season, because the ingredients are there for a far more productive year. The buildup has been promising enough to make 2026 feel less like a reset and more like the start of something real, even if the final piece is still the one that usually decides everything. [Read more 🡒]