The Patriots’ edge rusher position has faced one hurdle after another, and with outside linebacker and 2025 sacks leader Harold Landry III officially out for the first four games of the upcoming season, there’s no clear-cut solution in sight.
Landry, 30, will start the year on the Physically Unable to Perform list, the Patriots announced over the weekend. The designation opened another roster spot for now, but also disqualifies him for games against the Seattle Seahawks, Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Buffalo Bills.
The 2025 captain suffered a knee injury in October of last season. He battled through it and tallied 8.5 sacks and 49 total tackles in the regular season, but it lingered and kept him out of the AFC Championship game.
Landry was then unable to participate in training camp and preseason. Now, he’s out for the Super Bowl rematch, too.
“I wasn't anticipating them, [Landry and special teamer Brenden Schooler] being out there. The plan - this wasn't unexpected,” Vrabel said Tuesday.
Since it wasn't 'unexpected,' it’s a bit of a headscratcher how the team has opted to go into the season with the edge rusher position looking as…mysterious…as it does – especially given another absence in that room for most of the summer.
Rookie Gabe Jacas’ very appearance is enough to strike fear in opposing quarterbacks, but a strange injury and contract dispute kept him out of much of the offseason program. Since his return, he’s looked a lot like a guy who’s just entered the NFL and still learning from his mistakes. That’s not to say he can’t be great, but he shouldn’t be expected to be great through the first month of the season.
“The only person that really got reps last year that’s in that room is [Elijah] Ponder, and that really wasn’t until the end of the year,” outside line backers coach Mike Smith said at the end of camp. “So, you’re really looking at a whole new room. But, I like the pieces that we’ve got in it.”
As Smith said, with Landry out, the primary carryover from last year’s group is Ponder – a second-year edge rusher who started as an undrafted free agent and worked his way up from special teams to the edge. He finished with four sacks in the regular season.
“Last year, coming in and knowing nothing – this year I have a little bit of knowledge under my belt,” Ponder told WEEI.com. “The confidence grows a little bit. I’m just trying to take that and then increase my knowledge as well.”
The Patriots are then left with free agent acquisition Dre’Mont Jones. Jones, 28, signed with the Patriots after a 7-sack season split between the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens. He’s a pretty clear replacement for K’Lavon Chaisson, who left the Patriots in free agency and took his 7.5 sacks with him.
New England was 26th in total sacks during the regular season, and they’re starting this year without Landry and with an almost entirely new room. Could the Patriots have done more to add to the group, with the Landry writing on the wall weeks back? Do they feel confident he will be available once the leaves start turning around Foxborough?
Elite interior defensive play from Milton Williams and Christian Barmore can certainly generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks, but it will be fascinating to see who will be able to make life hard for Josh Allen in October – and if said player is who the Patriots expected.
