The Green Bay Packers released tight end Martellus Bennett for a torn rotator cuff injury, as previously reported. Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said that during his last discussion about Bennett’s injury with the medical staff “they were talking about scheduling surgery.” The injury forced Bennett out of the past two weeks of practice with Green Bay.
Well, the Packers medical staff apparently has different standards from the New England Patriots because Bennett was at the Patriots practice on Friday, “which reflects how he passed his physical,” according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
Martellus Bennett was at practice today. pic.twitter.com/gU2mEBRYc6
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) November 10, 2017
Bennett is familiar with the Patriots offense and there’s a legitimate non-zero chance that he could be able to step into the New England offense without taking too much time to adjust. Of course the smart bet is to assume that he’ll be inactive on Sunday and that he’ll return next week against the Oakland Raiders.
But Bennett passed his Patriots physical and that means he could and should be a big part of an improved New England offense over the second half of the season.
Multiple reports also note that WR Chris Hogan, RT Marcus Cannon, and DT Malcom Brown were still inactive, which means they are unlikely to play on Sunday.