Inactives Analysis: Who Fills in for Kayshon Boutte, Austin Hooper and Rhamondre Stevenson vs. the Jets on Thursday Night Football?
New England’s game-day inactives are WR Kayshon Boutte (hamstring), RB Rhamondre Stevenson (toe), TE Austin Hooper (concussion), LB Christian Elliss (hip), DT Joshua Farmer (ankle), G Ceadan Wallace, and QB Tommy DeVito is the emergency third quarterback. As for New York, the Jets placed star WR Garrett Wilson (knee) on injured reserve, while starting CB Azareye’h Thomas (concussion) among the Jets inactives.
Starting on offense, the Patriots are shorthanded at the skill positions, with their top running back (Stevenson), starting ‘X’ receiver (Boutte) and second tight end (Hooper) all inactive. To this point, New England has had good injury luck for the most part, but Stevenson will miss his third consecutive game while Boutte is down for two straight games.
Although Boutte and Stevenson are starters when healthy, Hooper’s injury might be the trickiest for the Patriots to manage because of their tight end depth. Behind their two vets, Hunter Henry and Hooper, the Pats don’t have a third tight end on the 53-man roster. The Patriots are one of the teams making passing out of heavy personnel groupings popular this season, playing fewer than three receivers on 52% of their offensive snaps (sixth-highest in the NFL). Hooper, who plays 55.8% of the snaps, is a big part of that offensive philosophy due to his reliable pass-catching (13 catches for 174 yards) and in-line blocking abilities.
Despite being down Hooper, the Patriots didn’t elevate any tight ends from the practice squad for Thursday night’s game. The Pats have FB Jack Westover for their two-back groupings and the NT/FB Khyiris Tonga package, or they could opt for an extra offensive lineman (6 OL). Another outside-the-box idea is using WR Mack Hollins as a de facto “move” tight end, allowing the Pats to blur the lines between three-receiver and two-receiver sets. The Patriots have options to replace Hooper, but it could lead to some unique groupings.
At running back, backup RB Terrell Jennings (knee, questionable) is officially active along with rookie TreVeyon Henderson and practice-squad elevation D’Ernest Johnson. The expectation is that Henderson, who broke out with a 55-yard and a 69-yard touchdown last week, will be the lead-back in the Patriots backfield. However, it’s unclear who will spell the talented rookie, as Jennings is active on a short week despite leaving last week’s win over the Bucs early due to his knee injury.
Over the last two weeks, Henderson has played 51 snaps in each game, or 79.3% of the offensive snaps. Until Stevenson returns, it’s hard to envision that will change. That said, Jennings was getting a share of the early-down and short-yardage carries before exiting Week 10 in the second quarter, signaling that he was going to platoon with Henderson in Tampa Bay. If he’s close to full strength, Jennings could be in the mix in the Pats backfield alongside Henderson, while Johnson serves as RB3 and a kickoff returner.
If he’s more limited than expected, Henderson could be in for another significant workload with Jennings banged up on Thursday night. Johnson could pitch in on passing downs to lessen the burden on the explosive first-year running back, but while the game is competitive, Henderson might need to be the bell cow against the Jets this week.
Next, the Patriots won’t have Boutte, their top outside receiver, for the second consecutive game due to a hamstring injury he suffered in the first half vs. the Falcons in Week 9. Boutte’s injury is reportedly minor, but on a short week, New England won’t push it with one of QB Drake Maye’s go-to targets. After playing on Thursday night, the Patriots won’t play again for 10 days, when they visit the Bengals. Hopefully, Boutte will be closer to a return by Week 12.
On Thursday night, the Patriots will likely lean on a similar rotation at wide receiver as last week, with rookie Kyle Williams (72-yard TD) and veteran Mack Hollins (six catches, 106 yards) filling in nicely for Boutte. Hollins played 34 snaps on the outside in his second-career 100-yard performance, while Williams played 31 of his 33 snaps as an outside receiver. Between those two wideouts, the Pats are in good shape to weather the storm without Boutte.
With the Patriots expected to start the same five along the offensive line for the 10th time in 11 games, here is QB Drake Maye’s projected supporting cast on Thursday night:
QB Drake Maye’s Supporting Cast vs. Jets
OL: LT Campbell, LG Wilson, C Bradbury, RG Onwenu, RT Moses
WR: Diggs, Hollins, Douglas, Williams, Chism III
RB: Henderson, Jennings, Johnson
Moving over to the defense, the Patriots will play their second consecutive game without starting LB Christian Elliss due to his hip injury. Although there were several factors at play and it was still representable, New England’s run defense had its worst performance of the season vs. the Bucs, allowing season-highs in yards per carry (5.4) and rushing success rate (57.1%). Now, they’ll face a potent Jets rushing attack, which ranks third in explosive run rate this season.
Last week, LB Jack Gibbens, who is managing a hamstring injury himself, was the primary replacement for Elliss. In Tampa Bay, Gibbens had a solid performance with two coverage stops and a pass breakup, while linebackers Jahlani Tavai (15 snaps) and Marte Mapu (14 snaps) also pitched in alongside Gibbens and captain Robert Spillane. As long as Gibbens is a full go, it should be a similar mix at linebacker on Thursday night.
Along those same lines, rookie DT Joshua Farmer, a rotational piece on the defensive line, is inactive due to his ankle injury. Farmer has played 28% of the defensive snaps in his rookie campaign. Farmer being inactive means that rookie DT Eric Gregory will make his NFL debut. Star DT Christian Barmore was also in and out of last week’s game due to a back injury, possibly contributing to the shaky run defense.
Given that the Jets run the ball effectively, it’ll be worth monitoring how effective the Patriots run defense is on Thursday night. Jets RB Breece Hall’s 21 explosive runs are the fifth-most in the NFL this season, while QB Justin Fields is a threat to run the ball as well. That said, New York’s passing game is limited. Last week, the focus was more on Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and the passing game, so Tampa Bay’s running backs ran into light boxes on 10 of their 19 carries. One would expect that the primary objective will be to stop the Jets rushing attack this week.
On Thursday night, New England aims to extend its winning streak to eight straight games when it hosts the Jets. It would be the Patriots longest win streak since the 2019 season, while a win would give the Pats a 9-2 record, surpassing their win total from the previous two seasons combined in just 11 weeks this season – a great start to the Vrabel era.
The Patriots host the Jets with kickoff at 8:15 p.m. ET on Thursday night at Gillette Stadium.
