In less than an hour, the New England Patriots will enter the week 11 action by taking on the San Francisco 49ers. The Patriots will have to do so without some key contributors.
A look at the inactives list shows this:
CB Justin Coleman
RB D.J. Foster
TE Rob Gronkowski
DT Woodrow Hamilton
WR Chris Hogan
DE Jabaal Sheard
OT LaAdrian Waddle
Three of the inactives were already known: Rob Gronkowski missed all three practices this week because of a chest injury, while Chris Hogan struggles with a back issue that visibly limited him last week. Jabaal Sheard, despite not being officially declared out until now, was left in New England by the team for what was reportedly performance issues.
With Coleman being a healthy scratch, Cyrus Jones and Eric Rowe will work as the primary nickel cornerbacks this week. Hamilton being out means that Vincent Valentine will be the number three option at defensive tackle. Waddle has been the fourth offensive tackle all season long, so him being inactive was ecpected
D.J. Foster being inactive is also no surprise. After all, Dion Lewis is active for the first time this season. While he will likely play limited snaps it is encoraging to see him make his 2016 debut today.
The 49ers’ inactives look as follows:
49ers inactives. #NEvsSF pic.twitter.com/Oo9rzfOS8I
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) November 20, 2016