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In not even 90 minutes, the New England Patriots will play their first regular season game this year, trying to start their season 1-0: the reigning AFC East champions will square off against a Miami Dolphins team team that ended last year with a 5-11 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
OT Korey Cunningham
TE Dalton Keene
LB Cassh Maluia
QB Jarrett Stidham
LB Josh Uche
Wide receiver Gunner Olszewski was the lone Patriot already ruled out for the game on Friday’s injury report, but he was since moved to injured reserve. Accordingly, the inactives list does not include him. It does, however, include two other players named on the injury list two days ago: rookies Dalton Keene and Cassh Maluia are out because of neck and knee issues, repsectively.
Joining them on the sidelines are three healthy scratches: Korey Cunningham, Jarrett Stidham and Josh Uche. While Cunningham’s inactivity is not that big of a surprise, the other two are. Stidham is the current number three quarterback on the depth chart behind starter Cam Newton and Brian Hoyer; second-round rookie Uche saw plenty of action with the starting lineup in training camp.
Wide receiver N’Keal Harry and linebacker Chase Winovich, meanwhile, are both active after being listed among the questionables on Friday.
As you can see, the Patriots named only five inactives compared to the usual seven. Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, teams that activate eight offensive linemen have to declare just five inactives. The Patriots did just that today.
Dolphins inactives
RB Malcolm Perry
WR Lynn Bowden Jr.
S Clayton Fejedelem
DE Jason Strowbridge
G Adam Pankey
Clayton Fejedelem was the only Dolphin listed on Friday’s injury report, and he will be out today because of a pectoral injury.