The New England Patriots have until Tuesday, August 27, to trim their crowded roster of 90 players down to 53 by 4 P.M. ET. The Patriots must decide whether to activate players who haven’t practiced during their four and a half weeks of camp off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list or have them miss the first four games of the 2024 season.
Suppose a player starts training camp on the active/PUP list. They haven’t practiced or participated in any preseason game and have less than two weeks to recover from their injury, return to practice, get up to playing speed, and be ready for their season opener. However, if they aren’t healthy enough to play, it would be logical for them to start on the PUP list and miss at least the first four games.
The Patriots have two offensive starters banged up from last year.
The New England Patriots have two offensive starters recovering from season-ending injuries
Kendrick Bourne and Cole Strange are recovering from season-ending injuries sustained a season ago.
Bourne suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 8. The Patriots placed him on the active/PUP list before the start of training camp, and he hasn’t practiced. Strange suffered a season-ending patellar tendon tear in Week 15, and he started training camp on the active/PUP list and hasn’t practiced as well.
Both players aren’t ready.
Kendrick Bourne will miss the start of 2024
The Patriots placed Bourne on the reserve/PUP list at the roster cutdown deadline, allowing him to be eligible to return. He would have missed the entire season if they had placed him on the PUP list before the roster cutdown deadline. That’s not the case, and he will miss at least the first four games.
We will update you once we have more information regarding his timetable for return.
Cole Strange will also miss the start of 2024
The Patriots placed Strange on the reserve/PUP list as well. He will miss at least the first four weeks of 2024. Despite initially believing his injury could cause him to miss half or all of the 2024 season, they are optimistic that he could return to the football field at some point.
