Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images New England made three total transactions on Monday. The New England Patriots had a busy day on Monday. Coming off a 27-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, they made three transactions. And while the reported signing of running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn to the practice squad has not yet been made official, the two other moves have: the Patriots claimed quarterback Nathan Rourke off waivers, and placed guard Cole Strange on injured reserve. Rourke, 25, moved between the Jacksonville Jaguars’ active roster and practice squad throughout the season. He was waived over the weekend and likely would have returned to the club’s developmental team, but the Patriots — owners of the second position in the waiver claim order — scooped him up and added him to their own 53-man roster. Strange, 25, joined the Patriots as a first-round draft pick in 2022. A 17-game starter at left guard as a rookie, he dealt with his fair share of injuries this season but recently appeared to hit his stride. However, he went down in the second quarter of the Chiefs game and was carted off — dealing another blow to an already battled offensive line. With all that said, let’s take a closer look at what the two moves mean from the Patriots. QB Nathan Rourke: Claimed off waivers The Patriots improve their quarterback depth: With Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones on the 53-man team, and Will Grier and QB/WR hybrid Malik Cunningham on the practice squad, the Patriots recently had four quarterbacks under contract. However, the latter two left the organization within one week of each other: Cunningham joined the Baltimore Ravens last week, with Grier signing with the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday. The move left the cupboard behind Zappe and Jones bare, and prompted the club to put a waiver claim in to acquire Rourke. He now becomes the new QB3, and as opposed to Grier and Cunningham will reside on the active roster for now. The emergency QB rule comes into play again: Rourke joining the 53 rather than the practice squad means that New England now also can use the new emergency quarterback rule again. For it to work, the Patriots would have to keep Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones on their game day roster while making Rourke inactive. If both of the two top options become unavailable either through injury or ejection, he would then be allowed to enter the game. New England adds some experience, albeit mostly outside the NFL: Rourke entered the NFL Draft in 2020 off a productive college career at Ohio. Appearing in 39 games over three years, he completed 58.7 percent of his passes for 7,457 yards with 60 touchdowns and 20 interceptions. However, that was not enough for him to get selected or even sign a rookie free agent contract. Instead, Rourke took his talents to Canada, where he started 11 games over two seasons for the BC Lions. After completing 76.0 percent of his throws for 4,035 yards, 28 TDs and 15 INTs, he made the jump to the NFL: in January 2023, the Jaguars signed him to a futures pact. Rourke went on to spend the entire summer in Jacksonville and saw action in all three preseason games. He completed 23 of 35 pass attempts (65.7%) for 348 yards and one spectacular touchdown: .@nathan_rourke the magician!: Stream #JAXvsDAL on NFL+ https://t.co/bBFpXewtKp pic.twitter.com/aJyI00EdVw— NFL (@NFL) August 12, 2023 Rourke was released ahead of roster cutdowns, but kept around by the Jaguars either on the active or the practice squad. His NFL experience is therefore rather limited. However, considering his time in Canada, he has seen more in-game action at a professional level than both Malik Cunningham and Will Grier, his de facto predecessors in New England. Rourke offers dual-threat ability and scout-team value: The 6-foot-1, 210-pound Rourke is slightly undersized as a quarterback and offers no truly outstanding traits to suggest he will be much more than a backup option at the NFL level. However, he has value as a scout-team option for the Patriots especially due to his dual-threat abilities. Rourke gained 2,034 rushing yards and scored 49 touchdowns on 425 carries at Ohio. In the CFL, he carried the ball 57 times for 415 yards and 12 scores. With the Patriots set to face some mobile quarterbacks in back-to-back weeks now — the Denver Broncos’ Russell Wilson followed by the Buffalo Bills’ Josh Allen — having a player like that under contract makes sense: ideally, Rourke will help the New England defense prepare for this type of player over the coming weeks. G Cole Strange: Placed on injured reserve A disappointing season ends in disappointing fashion: As noted above, Strange was a 17-game starter a year ago but limited by injuries in 2023. He suffered a knee injury early in training camp that kept him out until the regular season; he had to sit out the season opener as a result of his recovery process. Strange did return in Week 2, but lasted only six quarters before getting banged up again. He missed three games as a consequence of this latest knee issue before returning in Week 7. His frequent absences also had an impact on his play: he was uneven in his first few games back from that second knee injury. However, he started playing arguably the best football of his career after New England’s Week 11 bye. Despite that recent progress, his season as a whole was a disappointing one that has now ended in disappointing fashion. Strange’s 2024 preparation might also be impacted: While the severity of his knee injury is not yet known, the fact that he had to be carted off, was ruled out shortly thereafter, and moved to IR within 24 hours, cannot be seen as overly encouraging. The focus for Strange therefore now shifts to 2024, but it remains to be seen whether or not he will be available once the team starts its offseason workout program in April. Atonio Mafi will see increased action again: The succession plan at left guard seems to be pretty straight-forward for the Patriots: fifth-round rookie Atonio Mafi took over after Strange went down on Sunday, and will likely remain in the lineup for the rest of the year. The Patriots have shown plenty of trust in Mafi early on in his career, but the youngster has had his struggles. In fact, he is still ranked second on the team with 22 quarterback pressures given up despite only starting four of 14 games so far this season. Add the fact that the left tackle position is shrouded in uncertainty as well — starter Trent Brown is dealing with multiple injuries, backup Conor McDermott left the Chiefs game with a head injury — and the left side of the line suddenly has become a problematic spot in the lineup. His fifth-year contract thresholds might get impacted: The 2020 NFL-NFLP Collective Bargaining Agreement introduced a new structure when it comes to fifth-year contract options for first-round draft picks. Depending on playing time and Pro Bowl nominations, a player now could fall into four value tiers. The highest of those tiers is already off the table; Strange will not make multiple Pro Bowls within the first three years of his rookie deal. However, his injury also impacts his ability to reach the others going beyond the bottom-tier level. Tier No. 2, after all, already includes some playing-time thresholds that have just become a bit harder to reach. If Strange either does not play a minimum of 75 percent of the Patriots’ offensive snaps in any two of his first three regular seasons, or not reach a cumulative average of at least 75 percent of snaps over those first three years, or not play a minimum of 50 percent in each of them — and not make a Pro Bowl on top of it — he would not qualify. At the moment, the 75 percent requirements are still on the table, as is the 50 percent option. However, he is certain not to play 75 percent in 2023, meaning he might have to surpass that number next year; also, there is no wiggle room for him in that regard and a trip to the physically unable to perform list to start 2024 might eliminate him altogether. The 50 percent hurdle, in fact, might be the easiest one for him to clear. Unless the Patriots average 83 offensive snaps over their final three games, he will make it 2-for-2 in his first two years and should be in a position to fulfill that requirement in 2024 — if, again, he is not forced to miss time due to his new knee injury. Another starter gets added to IR: Strange is the latest member of the Patriots’ starting lineup to get sent to injured reserve, joining edge Matthew Judon and cornerback Christian Gonzalez. Additionally, both of the projected starting right tackles this season — Calvin Anderson and Riley Reiff — are on IR as well, as are several players that likely would have seen prominent action as rotational pieces had they stayed healthy. In total, New England now has 13 players on its injured reserve list. A 14th, running back Rhamondre Stevenson, might get added at one point depending on the severity of the high ankle sprain he suffered in Week 13.
Source: https://www.patspulpit.com/2023/12/19/2 ... ed-reserve
