Week 4 Patriots vs Bills inactives: Dont’a Hightower OUT; Julian Edelman, Rex Burkhead good to go

In not even 90 minutes, the New England Patriots will play their fourth game of the 2019 regular season — and their third straight against a divisional rival: the team will square off against the Buffalo Bills, who are also entering today’s contest with a perfect 3-0 record. Before getting ahead of ourselves, however, let’s take a look at the players on both sides who have been declared inactive and will therefore not participate in today’s contest:

Patriots inactives

LB Dont’a Hightower

CB Joejuan Williams

RB Damien Harris

OL Korey Cunningham

QB Cody Kessler

OL Caleb Benenoch

DT Byron Cowart

The biggest name on the Patriots’ list of inactive players is, of course, linebacker Dont’a Hightower. The team captain was limited in practice all week long after leaving last Sunday’s game against the New York Jets with a shoulder injury. With him inactive, New England will likely turn to Kyle Van Noy as the defensive on-field signal caller while the workload of rotational linebackers Ja’Whaun Bentley and Elandon Roberts might increase.

The other inactive players were not listed on Friday’s injury report: cornerback Joejuan Williams, running back Damien Harris, offensive linemen Korey Cunningham and Caleb Benenoch, defensive tackle Byron Cowart and recently signed third-string quarterback Cody Kessler are all healthy scratches

The list of inactives also shows that seven of the players listed as “questionable” on the final injury report — all but Hightower — are good to go: Julian Edelman Rex Burkhead, Matt LaCosse, Marshall Newhouse, Michael Bennett, Gunner Olszewski and Nate Ebner will suit up today against Buffalo. While it remains to be seen just how their workload will look like, having them available is certainly good news for the Patriots.

Bills inactives

WR Robert Foster

RB Devin Singletary

LB Corey Thompson

OT Conor McDermott

OC Spencer Long

TE Tyler Kroft

CB Taron Johnson

The Bills will be without four of their “questionable” players: Robert Foster, Devin Singletary, Spencer Long and Taron Johnson have joined Tyler Kroft and Corey Thompson, who were already declared out on Friday, on the list of inactive players.