Not only did the New England Patriots fall short against the New Orleans Saints last Sunday, they lost versatile running back James White to a severe hip injury.
White, who had to be carted off the field, suffered a hip subluxation when he went down following a six-yard gain. Unfortunately, that injury will require him to miss the rest of the 2021 season.
Since the Patriots won’t have White for the remainder of the season, they have decided to officially place him on injured reserve.
This will potentially allow them to activate wide receiver N’Keal Harry for Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Patriots have placed RB James White on injured reserve, as his season is over due to a hip injury. This leaves the team with an open roster spot which could be used to activate WR N’Keal Harry tomorrow.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) October 1, 2021
There’s no sugarcoating this situation for the Patriots. It’ll be tough to replace White, especially since he’s the best pass catcher they have coming out of the backfield.
Earlier this week, Patriots safety Devin McCourty explained just how valuable White is to the team as a player and leader.
“James is the quiet leader. Obviously not having a guy like that hurts as a team,” McCourty said, via ESPN. “He had gotten off to a great start, and you just hate to see the long road to recovery that comes with being injured, but he’s one of the toughest people I’ve been around. I know he’ll bounce back.”
The Patriots could potentially ask second-year running back J.J. Taylor to take over White’s role moving forward. Only time will tell if he can make an impact this season.
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