The New England Patriots are heading into Thursday night’s matchup with the Chicago Bears even thinner up front, with left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker landing on injured reserve after hurting his hamstring in Sunday’s win over the New York Jets.
Vera-Tucker, a former first-round draft pick who spent his first four seasons with the Jets, signed with New England this past offseason on a three-year deal worth up to $48 million. The 6-foot-4, 308-pound lineman has dealt with injuries throughout his career, and since entering the league six years ago, he has played only 55.1% of offensive snaps.
His move to IR makes him the 22nd Patriots player placed on a reserve list this season. He also becomes the ninth projected starter to miss at least four weeks because of injury. Vera-Tucker is eligible to return in Week 13, which comes four games after the designation.
The bigger immediate issue for New England is what’s left at guard. With Ben Brown ruled out and both Greg Van Roten and Mike Onwenu already on injured reserve, the Patriots are set to start Matt Pryor and Walter Rouse, their fifth and sixth options at the position.
To help cover the shortage, the Patriots elevated Xavier Newman-Johnson from the practice squad for Thursday night. It will be his first game on the active roster with New England, and it counts as his first of three possible elevations this season. Newman-Johnson has been with the Patriots since Week 2 and brings a familiar background, having started his NFL career in Tennessee when Mike Vrabel was the head coach before spending three seasons with the Jets.
He’ll be available as a backup for both guard spots behind Pryor and Rouse.
New England also elevated linebacker Benton Whitley, who has been with the team for just under a month and will make his first appearance as a Patriot on Thursday. The Holy Cross graduate is in his fifth NFL season after moving through several teams, six of which signed him to the 53-man roster. Thursday night will be his seventh NFL game, and he’ll add depth behind a linebacker group that includes Robert Spillane, Christian Ellis, Namdi Obiazor, Darius Muasa, and Erick Hunter.
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Patriots Have A TreVeyon Henderson Issue They Can't Easily Hide
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The tension for New England is that Henderson's big-play ability is valuable enough to matter, but his blocking shortcomings make the playbook easier to read when he is on the field. The Patriots would like to lean on his speed more often, yet they do not have a clean answer for how to do that without exposing the offense in protection. Until that changes, Henderson's role is going to stay awkwardly split between the impact he can make and the situations the team can trust him in. [Read more 🡒]