5 Patriots Who Have Played Their Way Out of the Team’s 2024 Plans

The New England Patriots are having one of the worst seasons most fans can really ever remember. The 2023 season has been filled with horrendous offense, rumors of Bill Belichick looking to move on after the season, friction in the locker room, and much more.

For the first time in a really long time, are the New England Patriots an abject disaster? It really feels that way. With that being said, it's not overly difficult to project a handful of players who are undoubtedly not going to be in the team's plans for 2024.

Which Patriots players are basically playing the second half of this season with one foot out the proverbial door? Let's take a look at five.

5 New England Patriots players playing their way out of 2024 script

1. Ezekiel Elliott, RB

The New England Patriots obviously thought that bringing in Ezekiel Elliott was going to yield much better returns in 2023 than it has so far. And frankly, given the timing of the signing and given Elliott's history in the NFL, this was a pretty worthwhile chance to take.

But through 10 games, I think it's clear that if Zeke keeps playing the way he has, he won't be in the Patriots' 2024 plans at all. Maybe not many other teams' plans, either.

Elliott is averaging 3.8 yards per carry on 86 carries with a pair of touchdowns, but he already has five games in which he averaged less than three yards per carry. That's simply not sustainable, even though he's coming off of a performance against the Colts in which he had 88 yards from scrimmage on 15 total touches.