The New England Patriots announced a series of roster moves before their preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts. They made the signing of veteran free agent JaMycal Hasty official, an acquisition we already talked about here and analyzed here, while also placing fellow running back Terrell Jennings on injured reserve.
Let’s take a step back and analyze what the latter of the two transactions means for the club.
Out for the year
The NFL recently tweaked its injured reserve rules last year, allowing teams to reactivate up to two players sent to injured reserve on the final day of roster cuts. With Jennings being moved to the reserve list on August 13, however, he is not eligible for that treatment: his season is over.
Assuming that recently-released Myles Montgomery clears waivers, that means Jennings will become the fifth player whose season has found its end before even the first preseason snap. Also in the same boat than the two running backs are tight end Julian Hill and wide receivers Jimmy Kibble and Jeremiah Webb.
For Jennings himself, this marks a second straight season ended on injured reserve. Last year, he was moved to IR in mid-December and while later returning to practice was never actually activated and reverted back to the list before the Super Bowl.
RB competition changes again
As we mentioned in our position battle analysis from earlier on Thursday, Jennings’ return after opening training camp on the non-football injury list turned the running back competition on its head. He immediately slotted in the No. 3 role behind Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson, and did not cede any ground since.
With him now out of the picture, however, the competition and the entire composition of the group have changed dramatically. For now, the running back depth chart looks like this:
Running back (8): Rhamondre Stevenson (38), TreVeyon Henderson (32), Reggie Gilliam (44 | FB), Lan Larison (34), Jam Miller (30), Hassan Haskins (—), JaMycal Hasty (—)
IR (2): Terrell Jennings, Myles Montgomery
The aforementioned Stevenson and Henderson are locked into their roster spots, as is fullback Reggie Gilliam. Who will be the third back, meanwhile, remains to be determined after neither Lan Larison nor Jam Miller could seize the opportunities they had while Jennings was out the first time.
Maybe newly-signed Hassan Haskins or JaMycal Hasty can make some noise. Both have familiarity playing under Mike Vrabel and experience in the NFL both from an offensive and a special teams perspective, which brings us to:
Special teams impact
While most of the focus surrounding Jennings’ move to season-ending IR will be on his role. as the third running back, his contributions in the game’s third phase cannot be underestimated either. After all, he had been part of multiple starting special teams units during training camp: he lined up as a kickoff return option during Tuesday’s joint practice alongside Kyle Williams, Efton Chism and Lan Larison, and also had been used on the punt team.
As noted above, the Patriots’ replacement running backs, Hassan Haskins and JaMycal Hasty, both have special teams experience as well. Still, looking at the Jennings injury through a kicking game lens shows just how valuable of a contributor he could have been in 2026.
Possible cap savings
Moving Jennings to injured reserve does not change the Patriots’ salary cap number. While the transaction does remove his $1.075 million base salary from the active roster, he is still getting paid while on IR Meanwhile, the player that will be taking his spot on the Top 51 list is carrying the same salary.
There is a chance that the Patriots could limit Jennings’ cap impact at one point, in case they exercise a split salary provision. Depending on the agreement, this would end up slightly decreasing his cap hit.
Second shoe has dropped
When we broke down the as-of-then-unofficial JaMycal Hasty signing earlier on Thursday, we mentioned that a second shoe was about to drop. Hasty would have put them over the offseason roster limit, which necessitated a follow-up move. We now know that it was placed Jennings on IR.
Consequently, the Patriots head into Thursday night’s game against the Colts with 91 players on their active roster. They are able to carry 91 instead of the typical 90 because offensive tackle Lorenz Meth has a roster exemption due to his status as an international player.