Why did the Patriots make Cameron McGrone inactive after elevating him from the practice squad?

The New England Patriots elevated two linebackers from their practice squad to the active roster for their Monday night matchup with the Arizona Cardinals. But while one of them — veteran Jamie Collins — has made the game-day squad, the other has not: Cameron McGrone has been named one of the team’s seven inactives.

This begs the question: Why did they elevate him in the first place only to make him inactive? It is hard to know the team’s motives, but there are three basic theories why that might have been the case.

1. To increase his salary: Practice squad players who are elevated to the game-day roster get a one-week pay increase. Maybe New England moved him up to simply show him some financial love.

2. To deal with a potential injury situation: While no linebackers were listed on the injury report, there might have been some concern about a certain player or several players heading into pre-game warmups. Adding McGrone as additional emergency depth would have made sense in that case.

3. To send a message to him: McGrone might be a candidate to join another team’s active roster or leave after the expiration of his practice squad deal following the season. Elevating him might be a way of telling him that he has a future in New England.

Regardless of what the team did, McGrone will have to continue to wait for his NFL debut. The 2021 fifth-round draft pick missed virtually all of his rookie campaign recovering from a torn ACL, and has not seen any game action this year either after spending the entire season on the practice squad.