It’s not easy to make an impact in the NFL as a rookie late-round draft pick.
That task is even more difficult when you are hurt before you arrive with your new team, can’t practice until late November and join the 53-man roster in mid-December for a team on a seven-game winninng streak as it competes for the No. 1 seed in its conference.
But that’s the spot that Patriots sixth-round pick Joshuah Bledsoe finds himself in these days. The safety out of Missouri suffered a broken wrist at the Senior Bowl last winter that required surgery and landed him on the non-football injury list to open his rookie season.
After finally joining his teammates on the practice field on Nov. 23, Bledsoe has now been added to the Patriots active roster.
During his Wednesday press conference at Gillette Stadium, Bill Belichick was asked what the 5-11, 201-pounder might bring to the New England team and whether he might have a role on game days.
“We’ll see. I don’t know,” Belichick said of a would-be role for the rookie before going on to talk in more general terms about Bledsoe. “Josh got a late start, obviously, because of the situation he had in the spring. That was unfortunate. But when he got an opportunity to practice the last two and a half weeks he’s done a good job. He showed up out there, positively to the point where we thought he might have a chance to contribute this year. We’ll see.”
The Patriots have certainly dealt with some depth issues in the defensive backfield at times this year, even at a relatively stacked safety spot. Kyle Dugger missed the pre-bye Bills game to COVID. Adrian Phillips missed the end of that game in Buffalo to a knee scare. That led to Myles Bryant earning the start in Buffalo and veteran backup Sean Davis being on the field late in a key defensive series in the red zone.
Beyond his ability to possibly add depth at safety and in sub packages, Bledsoe could also certainly be a consideration in the kicking game.
Both way, and despite the late start to his career in New England, it sounds like Belichick is leaving the door open for Bledsoe to have a “chance to contribute this year” for the Patriots as the team heads down the stretch of the regular season.
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