Patriots Need To Make Big Pivot Following Injury To Rookie

The New England Patriots appeared to have interest in bringing back an old staple in 2025.

It’ll likely have to wait after recent news, though…

New England made a pair of roster moves on Tuesday: signing rookie linebacker R.J. Moten and placing rookie fullback Brock Lampe on injured reserve — ending his season before it even started.

Lampe was an undrafted free agent, so he wasn’t exactly a shoe-in to make the roster, but given the way it is currently constructed and the coaching staff’s historical preferences, he had a pretty damn good chance. I’ve been writing about it all offseason, but the fact of the matter is that the team once looked destined to keep a fullback and now needs to pivot.

How?

It’s an interesting conversation, but it comes down to one of two options. New England can either sign a replacement or look to tweak their offensive strategy.

New England offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has always preferred to carry a fullback on the roster, with Heath Evans, James Develin and Jakob Johnson each filling the role across his previous stints in the organization.

The Patriots didn’t provide him with one every single year, however, which led to different wrinkles. Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez famously thrived in two-tight end sets for a couple of seasons. Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper could provide a different version of that, or team up with a rookie like CJ Dippre to introduce similar concepts in a new era. Rhamondre Stevenson, TreVeyon Henderson and Antonio Gibson all have complimentary skillsets, so why not toss them into “pony” packages where they can stay on the field together?

It’s not like there’s a shortage of options.

McDaniels might really want to have a true option at fullback, however, which means he could push to bring someone in to fill the void. It’s slim pickings at this point in the offseason, though.

I can’t seriously argue that a rookie free agent fullback going down is going to doom the season, but it will result in some sort of pivot between the first week of training camp and the first week of the regular season.

How would you approach it? Let us know in the comments!