The New England Patriots decided to shake up their linebacker depth in the aftermath of their 35-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills. On Monday, the team waived Caleb Murphy form its active roster. The second
shoe dropped on Tuesday, when the team announced that it had signed Chad Muma from the Indianapolis Colts practice squad.
Let’s analyze what the two moves mean for the Patriots heading toward their Week 16 game against the Baltimore Ravens.
LB Chad Muma: Signed to 53-man roster
Linebacker depth: Adding Muma allows the Patriots to bolster their depth in two areas of need. The first is the linebacker position, which was without starter Robert Spillane on Sunday because of a foot injury he sustained during practice last week. The 26-year-old immediately stepping in should the captain miss another game is not likely, but his presence gives New England more experienced depth and flexibility. Muma projects as a classic off-ball option capable of filling gaps on early downs — something that was a big problem against the Bills.
Special teams depth: Muma comes to New England with 1,633 career snaps on his résumé, and a majority of those did not come at his listed position: over his four years in the league so far, he has played 722 snaps at linebacker and 911 on special teams. This is where he should be expected to make an impact fairly early in his Patriots tenure, and effectively takes over for the now-released Caleb Murphy. Like Murphy, Muma is a core-four player, meaning he has an extensive track record on kickoff return, kickoff coverage, punt return and punt coverage.
A-grade athleticism: Muma originally entered the NFL as a third-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2022, and it is not hard to see why. Not only was he a two-time first-team All-Mountain West selection coming out of Wyoming, he also brought an impressive athletic profile to the table.
Athleticism alone does not make a good NFL linebacker, and Muma’s career so far is proof of that. Then again, he does have some traits that can be useful both on defense and in the kicking game.
Salary cap impact: Unless the Patriots have decided to sign him to more than a minimum salary deal for a player of his experience — an unlikely move — Muma’s base salary after joining them will be $1.1 million. There is a catch, though. With only three weeks left in the 2025 regular season, his actual cap impact will only be $183,333. While that number is technically non-guaranteed, he will earn all of it: as a player signed from another team’s practice squad, he has to spend a minimum of three weeks on New England’s active roster anyway.
ED Caleb Murphy: Waived
Special teams victim: Murphy was almost exclusively a special teamer for the Patriots since his arrival via the waiver wire on Oct. 20, playing on the core-four units. Among them is kickoff coverage, which was a definitive weakness for New England in its loss to the Bills on Sunday. While no individual player is to blame for Buffalo returner Ray Davis averaging 41 yards on his four runbacks, all of his long gains came to Murphy’s side of the formation: on the first two, he failed to get off a block by fullback Reggie Gilliam, allowing Davis to follow through; on the fourth, he ran too far upfield and found himself in no-man’s land. One day later, Murphy has been let go.
Cap space cleared: Removing Murphy from the Patriots’ roster also removes him from their payroll. This, in turn, creates savings against the team’s cap of $171,667 — the remaining three weeks worth of salary he would have been paid had he remained on New England’s roster through the rest of the regular season. That sum itself is relatively non-consequential given the overall volume of the NFL salary cap, but it goes to show how even minor moves such as waiving Murphy create a trickle-down effect.
