After promptly making 14 cuts following their preseason finale, the New England Patriots remained comparatively quiet on Saturday and Sunday. Only one player was removed from the active roster over the weekend: guard Layden Robinson, a fourth-round draft pick in 2024, was waived with an injury designation.
Let’s assess what the move means for the team.
Writing on the wall
Robinson was one of the Patriots’ few positive surprises of the 2024 season. The 103rd selection in the draft ended up starting 11 games between his
stints at left and right guard, playing a combined 603 offensive snaps (55.2%) on the year.
Even though he experienced some rookie growing pains in what was an overall underwhelming offense, the arrow appeared to be pointing in the right direction. In the eyes of new head coach Mike Vrabel and company, however, it was not — a surprising development when looking back at his 2024 progression, but not necessarily as far as his spring and summer are concerned.
Robinson, after all, ran almost exclusively with the backups during offseason workouts and training camp. With the team seemingly preferring other options, a parting of the ways was always considered the likeliest outcome.
Now, it has happened — at least to a degree: while the Patriots do expose Robinson to the waiver wire, he will revert to their injured reserve list if going unclaimed.
IR about to increase
Robinson heading to injured reserve is the likely outcome. There is no guarantee he will remain there through the season, though: he is ineligible to be reactivated further down the line, but the fact he was waived beforehand speaks a clear language about his long-term job security.
For now, however, the 24-year-old is set to become the eighth Patriot already moved to IR this year:
- RB Lan Larison
- RB Deneric Prince
- FB Brock Lampe
- OT Yasir Durant
- OL Layden Robinson*
- DT Isaiah Iton
- DT Jaquelin Roy
- CB Marcellas Dial Jr.
Like Robinson, the other players on the injured reserve list are also ineligible to be activated to the 53-man roster this season. For that to happen, a player needs to either be sent there in-season or be one of a maximum of two placed on IR on cutdown day itself (i.e. Tuesday, Aug. 26).
Salary cap impact
Robinson going from the active roster to injured reserve, will reduce his impact on the Patriots’ salary cap. While originally carrying a cap number of $1.17 million, it will now be significant less: his cap impact while on IR is $728,018, a combination of his fully-guaranteed signing bonus proration for the 2025 season ($213k) and his split salary ($515k).
The remainder of his $426,036 signing bonus, meanwhile, hit the Patriots’ 2026 books as dead cap.
8 interior O-linemen left standing
With Robinson no longer on the active team, a look at our up-to-date roster shows that the Patriots have eight interior offensive linemen remaining:
Interior offensive line (8): Jared Wilson (58 | LG), Garrett Bradbury (65 | C), Mike Onwenu (71 | RG), Ben Brown (77), Cole Strange (69), Caedan Wallace (70), Mehki Butler (63), Alec Lindstrom (61)
Out of those eight, only four can be considered locks or near-locks to make the team: starters Jared Wilson, Garrett Bradbury and Mike Onwenu as well as primary backup Ben Brown. The other four, meanwhile, are fighting for what might only be one spot — if that.
Another 2024 starter gone
The Patriots opened 2024 with a win over the Cincinnati Bengals, but their season quickly went downhill from there. As a consequence of that development and the resulting firing of one-and-done head coach Jerod Mayo, the roster has undergone a massive overhaul at all levels.
A look at the offensive starting lineup from that game against the Bengals illustrates this:
- QB Jacoby Brissett: left in free agency (Cardinals)
- RB Rhamondre Stevenson: still on Patriots’ active roster
- WR K.J. Osborn: cut in December 2024
- WR DeMario Douglas: still on Patriots’ active roster
- WR Tyquan Thornton: cut in November 2024
- TE Hunter Henry: still on Patriots’ active roster
- LT Chukwuma Okorafor: cut in February 2025
- LG Michael Jordan: cut in December 2024
- C David Andrews: cut in March 2025
- RG Layden Robinson: cut in August 2025, headed to IR
- RT Mike Onwenu: still on Patriots’ active roster
As can be seen only five of last year’s Day 1 starter on offense are still with the team, including Robinson (whose grasp on a spot, even on IR, seems tenuous at best).
One move closer
Regardless if he makes it through waivers or not, Robinson is now off the active roster. As of Monday morning, the Patriots therefore have 76 players signed. Until Tuesday 4 p.m. ET, 23 of them will need to meet the same fate as the second-year lineman: at that point, New England needs to be below the 53-man roster limit.
