Wide receiver Donte Moncrief and defensive tackle Akeem Spence reverted to the New England Patriots’ practice squad on Monday, according to the NFL transaction wire.
Both veterans had been standard elevations for New England’s 20-17 win over the Arizona Cardinals at Gillette Stadium.
Sunday marked the second consecutive call-up for Moncrief. The 27-year-old returned a pair of kickoffs, including 53-yarder late in the first quarter, to help set up a touchdown by running back James White. Moncrief has played 21 snaps on special teams and a handful on offense since signing to the New England scout team on Nov. 4. The wideout from Ole Miss was originally an Indianapolis Colts third-round pick in the 2014 draft.
Spence agreed to terms with the Patriots on Nov. 21. The Illinois product turned 29 on Sunday, and proceeded to see 14 downs at the nose of the defense in his debut. Those downs brought four tackles for Spence, who played a part in halting Cardinals rusher Kenyan Drake on fourth-and-1 at the goal line as intermission arrived. Spence landed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fourth round of the 2013 draft.
“Certainly, Donte has taken advantage of some of the opportunities that he’s had. Akeem got some opportunities, as well,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick told reporters during his postgame video conference. “We’ve had other guys that’ve fallen into that category, too, so we’ll see how it goes going forward. But that’s a lot of what this league is – opportunity, being ready to go and taking advantage of it when it comes. Really got to give those guys a lot of credit for the preparation that they’ve put in, especially not having the foundation and background in our system that some of the other players do.”
The reversions have combined for 183 games of regular-season experience.
In additional Monday movement, New England signed former San Francisco 49ers guard Ross Reynolds and former Cleveland Browns safety J.T. Hassell to the practice squad following recent visits.
Reynolds, 25, and Hassell, 25, entered the league in 2019 as undrafted free agents out of Iowa and Florida Tech, respectively.
The Patriots will open December at SoFi Stadium next Sunday versus the Los Angeles Chargers. Kickoff is set for 4:25 p.m. ET.