Pats Pulpit
New England made some changes at its linebacker position heading into Week 12.
While players enjoyed their weekly day off, Eliot Wolf and the New England Patriots’ front office were quite busy on Tuesday. The team made three transactions, including signing outside linebacker Titus Leo from the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad.
In addition, they removed two other linebackers from their 53-man roster: Curtis Jacobs was sent to injured reserve after sustaining a head injury in Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams; Ochaun Mathis was released after being a healthy scratch in Week 11.
Let’s find out what the moves mean for the Patriots.
The newest member of the Patriots originally entered the NFL as a sixth-round draft pick out of Wagner in 2023. Leo has not appeared in any regular season games since his arrival in the league, but he still is a player worth taking a flier on for two primary reasons: positional flexibility and raw athleticism.
The first area manifests itself in his ability to align both on the edge on defense and kick inside in select situations, similar to how the Patriots use versatile defensive linemen Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr. In addition, Leo brings some special teams experience to the table from both his time in college and when he was with the Colts.
Furthermore, he is a solid athlete. Measured at 6-foot-3, 245 pounds during the pre-draft process, he earned a 8.48 Relative Athletic Score:
In college, Leo was able to make use of his superior athleticism. When he left Wagner after five seasons and 38 games, he had 13 sacks, 40 tackles for loss, six forced fumbles and three blocked kicks on his résumé.
He has so far not been able to find the same success in the NFL, but the hope is that a change of scenery might help bring the best out of him.
The Patriots have gone through several methods of talent acquisition over the last few months. Signing players off of other teams’ practice squads has become a particularly popular way to improve the roster lately, though.
Leo is the fourth player to arrive in New England that way in the last six weeks. Previously, the team added offensive linemen Ben Brown (from Las Vegas), Lecitus Smith (from Green Bay) and Tyrese Robinson (from Minnesota) in the same fashion.
The Patriots’ defensive edge has seen quite a bit of turnover this season. The original top four are now down to only Anfernee Jennings, with Matthew Judon and Joshua Uche traded, and Oshane Ximines suffering a season-ending knee injury; meanwhile, the team first tried Ochaun Mathis as a depth option before eventually claiming Yannick Ngakoue off waivers in Week 10.
The most recent moves — signing Leo and Ngakoue, releasing Mathis — point at a larger issue at the position: the Patriots are still not happy with their edge...
