The New England Patriots didn’t panic or rush to make a roster move when veteran running back Antonio Gibson went down with a torn ACL in Week 4 against the Buffalo Bills. Instead, they reevaluated themselves and have promoted a practice squad running back to fill the void with Terrell Jennings.
In doing so, Jennings has been called up in each game over the last three weeks, which forces the Patriots to make the decision of adding him to the 53-man roster if they want to use him as their third running back again this season. Per the NFL rules, a practice squad player can only be elevated to the active roster three times.
Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel Enjoys Practice Squad RB
During his press conference on Monday, head coach Mike Vrabel expressed the team’s desire for Jennings to remain with New England, but that it’s going to cause a corresponding roster move to get it done. Vrabel doesn’t seem too worried about making it happen, though.
“We all want Terrell here. So however we have to handle that. I mean, the only other option is to bring him up. He’s been a good addition. He’s prepared for his opportunity. Helped on special teams, had a tackle yesterday on kickoff. So those are really good things.”
Jennings offers a different element and versatility to the running back room than what they currently have with Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson. Jennings can fulfill a similar type of role to what Gibson had, but he’s more of a power back, which the Patriots can benefit greatly from.
Although Jennings and Stevenson are similar size at six feet tall and over 215 lbs., the body stature is completely different and it makes them be different runners. While Stevenson carries himself as a bulky and durable runner, Jennings is longer and more of a bruiser.
What also makes Jennings valuable to the Patriots is his special teams capability. With having a third running back on the roster, it allows the team to utilize one as a return man for them, which Jennings did in Week 9, and he made a tackle on the kickoff team as well.
The thing with Jennings is that he’s not a receiving running back. It's not to say that he isn’t capable of it, he just hasn’t had the opportunity to need to do it much in a game. That said, however, it’s not really his style and it’s not what New England needs from him when he’s in the game.
It’s worth mentioning that Vrabel has shown that he really enjoys having Jennings on the team. During the last couple of weeks when Vrabel is high-fiving the team after the game, he gives Jennings a hug with quick words of encouragement. In fact, Vrabel even yelled “we’ve got a five-minute back.”
The sooner the Patriots take care of the formality of signing Jennings to the active roster, the sooner they can start to really develop a plan for this backfield that includes what he brings to the table.