FOXBOROUGH, Mass — Injuries have not been kind to the New England Patriots, with the offensive line getting hit hard in the team's win over the New York Jets. And because of that, combined with having a short week, Mike Vrabel announced the team is bringing in some reinforcements.
Andrew Rupcich and Jacob Rizy will be signing with the practice squad, as both have spent time with the Patriots this season and won't need as much time to get acclimated to the playbook.
Rupcich was with Vrabel in Tennessee, signing with the Titans as an undrafted free agent in 2022. He then signed with the team's practice squad in September 2025, remaining with them for the whole year. He signed a reserve/futures contract with New England after the year, but was waived
on August 20 with an injury settlement. As for Rizy, he spent all summer with the team, as well as some time on the practice squad earlier this season, but was released in the middle of September.
They join Jake Kubas and Xavier Newman-Johnson as the offensive linemen on the practice squad,
But going back to the injuries that occured, tt was tackle Morgan Moses, starting left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, and starting right guard Ben Brown who all left the game early. They were replaced by Caleb Lomu, Matt Pryor, and Walter Rouse. But, if another linemen went down, they wouldn't have had any guards remaining on the roster. So did the Patriots have a plan?
"I will hold that one for a later date," Vrabel said. "There was a scenario, and there were conversations about it."
Vrabel also took a moment to praise the job the offensive line coaches have done this season.
"They just are able to get guys ready to go, get them the reps that they think they need, whether that's walkthrough reps or you know getting Walter ready, getting Matt ready, being able to get Caleb ready on both sides to be the swing tackle, play left one week, play right, you know," Vrabel explained. "So those are all real positive, and we'll need their best efforts this week as we move forward."
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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: Patriots bring in O-Line reinforcements following Week 6 injuries
