Pats Pulpit
New England made a pair of roster moves on Tuesday.
The New England Patriots were busy on Tuesday. Besides holding their second straight practice in full pads and sixth overall of this year’s training camp, they also made a pair of roster moves.
Fullback Brock Lampe, who had joined the team as an undrafted free agent in May, was sent to injured reserve for undisclosed reasons. To take his spot on the team, linebacker R.J. Moten was added to the mix. Here is what the moves mean for the Patriots from a big-picture perspective.
Versatility galore: Moten spent his five-year college career at Michigan and Florida. He started out as a free safety but gradually moved closer to the box during his time with the Wolverines, eventually playing no free safety snaps at all during his 2024 senior campaign. Now in the NFL, the 6-foot, 224-pounder was announced as a linebacker.
Accordingly, he fits the mold of what the Patriots want from their defenders: versatility. A second-level hybrid who crosses the boundary between safety and off-ball linebacker, he will likely play a role similar to that of Jabrill Peppers or fellow DB-turned-LB Marte Mapu.
Special teams help: It remains to be seen how the Patriots will employ Moten, but it would not come as a surprise if he gets added to the special teams mix right away. During his time in college, he gained experience in five areas: kickoff and punt return, kickoff and punt coverage, and field goal/extra point block. He was no standout performer in the kicking game — he did not tally any tackles — but could provide depth for New England this summer.
Negligible cap impact: While the details of his contract are not yet available, the base salary of Moten’s deal will come in at $840,000; this is the standard compensation level for rookie players this year. That number alone, of course, would not qualify for Top 51 status, meaning that he would only have an impact on New England’s cap right now if it included a fully-guaranteed signing bonus.
Given that he remained unsigned until now — outside of a brief stint in the UFL — such a bonus being part of his deal seems unlikely. Thus, the expectation is that adding Moten will have a net zero impact on the Patriots’ current cap figure of around $59 million.
Season over: The NFL modified its injured reserve return policy last summer, allowing teams to designate two players as future returnees ahead of the 90-to-53 roster cutdown deadline. To be eligible for that treatment, however, that move would have had to happen on cutdown day itself, which is August 26 this year.
With Lampe being sent to IR now, this means he is ineligible to be re-activated at a later point. His season is therefore effectively over (unless he gets released from injured reserve at a later point and...
