New England Patriots: Poached an Interior Offensive Lineman Off a Team’s Practice Squad

The New England Patriots made a surprising position change on their offensive line for their Week 6 matchup against the Houston Texans. The Patriots started Ben Brown at center since Nick Leverett was a game-time decision with an ankle injury. The team poached Brown off the Las Vegas Raiders practice squad later in the week and only practiced with the team twice. He performed well against the Texans and impressed Jerod Mayo.

“Look, this is one of those things, I’ve never seen it before,” Mayo said Monday of Brown’s performance. “A guy being able to come in here after four or five days and become the starting center. So, he did a great job.

“I would say he probably was our best lineman yesterday, and he did a good job for us. He did a good job all through the week during practice, and then went out there and performed pretty well.”

The Patriots plan to have Brown start at center for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, they parted ways with a veteran interior lineman.

The New England Patriots released their backup center

The Patriots released Nick Leverett on Monday. Leverett did not perform well in his starting debut in their Week 5 loss to the Miami Dolphins. As previously discussed, he was a game-time decision, which is a reason why they rolled with Ben Brown. Now that he is no longer on their team, they needed a backup center since they didn’t have one on their active roster.

It didn’t take long for them to find one.

The New England Patriots poached an offensive lineman off an NFC North team’s practice squad

According to Mark Daniels of MassLive.com, the Patriots have poached Lecitus Smith off the Green Bay Packers practice squad. NFL rules require players signed off a team’s practice squad to receive three guaranteed weekly paychecks, and they count against their 53-man roster for at least three weeks, even if the team releases that particular player. Smith assumes the role as Ben Brown’s backup.

Patriots signed center Lecitus Smith to the 53-man roster off of Green Bay’s practice squad.

Smith played in 10 games with two starts at right guard in 2022

— Mark Daniels (@ByMarkDaniels) October 15, 2024

Here’s a quick review of his NFL career

The Arizona Cardinals drafted Lecitus Smith in the 6th round, 215th overall of the 2022 NFL Draft. Smith played ten games as a rookie, including two starts at right guard. Unfortunately, the Cardinals released him during the roster cutdown deadline of his second season. He bounced around with the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles practice squad during the 2023 season.

The Green Bay Packers signed Smith to a contract in May of his third season. Unfortunately, the Packers released him during the roster cutdown deadline but re-signed him to their practice squad. Fast forward to now, he’s a member of the New England Patriots.

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