With the playoffs finally approaching, the New England Patriots will need all hands on deck. The Los Angeles Chargers will visit the second-seeded Patriots in their playoff opener on Sunday night, and New England received some good news on Friday when Harold Landry was listed as questionable after missing the past two games due to a knee injury.
Landry’s return is a good omen for Sunday’s game going up against the Chargers’ paper-thin offensive line. With offensive tackles Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater out with season-ending injuries and Los Angeles slotting in at No. 30 on Pro Football Focus’s final offensive line rankings, it feels like Landry, who led the Patriots with 8.5 sacks this season, can do some damage. But it will come at the price of another Patriots’ pass-rusher’s playing time.
The most likely candidate is Anfernee Jennings, who has been able to hold onto his roster spot throughout the 2025 season but could be thrown into the fire as the Patriots begin their playoff push.
Anfernee Jennings’ Playoff Audition Could Be Foiled By Harold Landry’s Return
After starting 30 games for New England over the previous two seasons, Jennings has been in a reserve role in 2025. In 14 games, he’s made just 26 tackles with five tackles for loss and two sacks, but has generated 15 pressures on 148 pass-rushing snaps. But he also has played well as Landry has recovered in the past two games, racking up five pressures over 35 pass-rushing snaps in the Patriots’ final two games.
The overall body of work isn’t impressive, even if Jennings has posted a 10.1 percent pressure rate. An increased snap count has also shown that Jennings can contribute if called upon, but it just hasn’t happened consistently compared to what Landry and free-agent pickup K’Lavon Chaisson have done this season.
Where things really get rough for Jennings is that now he won’t have the snaps to prove it. Before the recent uptick in playing time due to Landry’s injury, Jennings was logging roughly 22 snaps per game from Weeks 13-16, posing a PFF grade below 60.0 in all three contests. Before that, Jennings averaged 14.2 snaps per game.
While some of that has been due to a variety of injuries, Jennings hasn’t had the playing time to convince Mike Vrabel and his staff that he should be in the Patriots’ rotation of pass-rushers. Now with Landry back, those snaps probably aren’t going to come, which is a problem considering that the Patriots could save $4 million in cap space by cutting him next offseason, according to Over The Cap.
With the strong possibility he could be looking for a new team this offseason, Jennings will want to make a good impression. But if the Patriots choose to keep him on the sideline with Landry’s potential return, it could be a lot harder to find the deal he’s looking for this spring.