Patriots Placing Cornerback Tarell Brown on the Injured Reserve, Depth a Major

Teams typically trade players who are in the previous year of their contracts.

The Patriots will hold a walkthrough on Saturday before leaving for Indianapolis and Sunday night’s game against the Colts.

Thursday marked Brown’s first missed practice of the season. A lot of people were anxious about New England’s secondary coming into the season, but I was one of the few people that thought it would be okay, and that was largely because of the play of Brown. He is joined by linebackers Trent Cole (back) and Bjoern Werner (hamstring) and defensive tackle Billy Winn (eye) on that list, though that trio were full participants at Friday’s practice. While Butler is in his second season as an undrafted free agent, and Ryan is in his third season as a third round draft pick, Coleman is an undrafted rookie and the Patriots just claimed Melvin off of waivers.

There was a few good news on the injury front for New England. He returned to the field last Sunday but was again limited, only playing 45 of 72 snaps. Along with Brown and Fletcher, the Patriots also signed veteran cornerbacks Robert McClain, Derek Cox and Chimdi Chekwa, all of whom were cut, this offseason. Pregame coverage begins at 5:30pm, with three hours of postgame coverage following the game.