Total Pro Sports
The New England Patriots were hit with some brutal injury news ahead of their first preseason game against the Washington Commanders, as second-year cornerback Marcellas Dial Jr. will miss the entire 2025 campaign.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, Marcellas Dial Jr. suffered a torn ACL in Monday’s practice and will miss all of 2025. The 24-year-old was carted off with a serious-looking injury, and the Pats unfortunately got the worst-case scenario.
It’s a tough early injury blow for the Patriots, who came into 2025 with one of the deepest cornerback rooms. With Dial Jr. out for the year, Eliot Wolf and Mike Vrabel will likely sign or trade for another corner before the regular season.
Filed to ESPN: Patriots CB Marcellas Dial Jr., who was carted off the field Monday, tore his ACL, per league sources.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 5, 2025
The Patriots bolstered their cornerback room by signing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star and Super Bowl 55 champion Carlton Davis to a three-year deal worth $60 million. They also drafted two other defensive backs in Craig Woodson and Kobee Minor, this year’s Mr. Irrelevant.
New England’s secondary is headlined by 2023 first-round pick Christian Gonzalez, who solidified himself as one of the league’s top cornerbacks last season.
The new-look Patriots kick off their preseason against the Commanders this Friday (7:30 p.m. EST), before wrapping up with road contests against the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants. They’ll open up the 2025 season at home against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Though Dial appeared in all 17 regular-season games last season, he was only a designated starter for one contest. He saw most of his playing time on special teams, playing 83 percent of the snaps on that unit.
Dial only saw 60 total snaps on the defensive side of the ball, recording one forced fumble and 12 combined tackles.
