Team news: New England Patriots | Page 4

Follow-up tests Monday revealed that New England Patriots leading receiver Kendrick Bourne tore his right ACL, according to a source.

Related players: DeVante Parker, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Demario Douglas, Kayshon Boutte

The injury ends Bourne's seventh season in the NFL, which was on pace to be his best, as he faces a recovery that a source estimates in the six- to eight-month range. Bourne was injured on the first play of the fourth quarter Sunday. It's a big hit to the Pats offense as Bourne had a TD in each of the last two games and before that had a line of 10-89-0 in Week 6.

The #Patriots waived QB/WR Malik Cunningham.

Related players: Mac Jones, Will Grier, Bailey Zappe

It's a bit of a shocker as Cunningham was recently the team's QB2 and seemingly a step away from starting with Jones struggling. Jones is coming off a good game against Buffalo and now Zappe or Grier look to be back in line as the backup to Jones.

As the Patriots try to avoid falling to 1-6 on Sunday against the Bills, Mac Jones will once again be the starting quarterback.

Via Dakota Randall of NESN.com, offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien told reporters on Tuesday that Jones will retain his job.

“Yes,” O’Brien said in response to the question of whether Jones will continue to start.

Related players: Malik Cunningham, Bailey Zappe, Will Grier

The story went to say O’Brien said Cunningham’s role will be determined on a “week to week” basis. Cunningham has leapfrogged Zappe, who served as the emergency quarterback on Sunday. Cunningham played on just six snaps last week.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has decided to have four quarterbacks on the 53-player roster, with Malik Cunningham now joining a roster that already had Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe and Will Grier. But Belichick isn’t saying what role Cunningham will play going forward.

“Malik’s improved a lot during the course of the year, both at receiver and in the kicking game and some of the snaps he’s taken at quarterback,” Belichick said. “Didn’t really get too much of a chance to see him [against the Raiders] but he’s been good to work with, he’s made a lot of improvement, and we’ll see where it goes.”

Belichick did say the athletic Cunningham has shown he belongs, even though on Sunday against the Raiders he was sacked on his only pass attempt and otherwise never got involved in the offense. The Patriots are desperate to improve the offense and win a game so anything can happen. For now, Cunningham should probably only be considered in deep leagues and dynasty leagues. But as always, keep an eye on what's going on in New England.

Patriots WRs JuJu Smith-Schuster and Demario Douglas and OL Riley Reiff and Cole Strange are all out for Sunday's game vs. Las Vegas.

Related Players: DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton

The Patriots offense is hardly in a position to be missing any of their players, but it's not as if they're getting much out of Juju anyways (14-86 on 24 targets). Thornton should get some extra run in Week 6, but none of the WRs should be taken seriously in fantasy until we see some sort of rebound.

Vikings officially have placed WR Justin Jefferson on IR.

Related players: Jordan Addison, K.J. Osborn, Jalen Nailor, T.J. Hockenson, Alexander Mattison

The prevailing thought is that Jefferson may have a hard time finding the field again in 2023, particularly if the Vikings show no interest in trading him, which is a distinct possibility. It'll be hard to drop him, so hopefully you have an IR spot in your league.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick is asked if Mac Jones is the team's starting QB this week: "Yeah, we're not making any changes."

Related Players: Bailey Zappe

New England clearly needs to change something up after their back-to-back blowout losses, but it remains to be seen exactly what that will entail. Jones will start Week 6 despite being benched in both of his two prior games.

QB Mac Jones is expected to start Sunday.

Related players: Will Grier, Bailey Zappe, Malik Cunningham

Howe also reported he's being told this is still an important week of practice for Jones as the Patriots evaluate every position on the roster on the heels of the worst two losses of Bill Belichick’s career. Jones has six turnovers in those two losses. Zappe hasn't shown much in his time either, so the Patriots may feel they don't have another choice but to stick with Jones. Grier and Cunningham could be considered at some point the way this season has gone in New England.

The #Vikings are placing their superstar WR Justin Jefferson on injured reserve.

Related players: Jordan Addison, K.J. Osborn, Jalen Nailor, T.J. Hockenson, Alexander Mattison

The exact timetable is to be determined and depends on how he responds to treatment, according to Pelissero, but he's going to miss at least the next four games. It's a huge loss for the Vikings who have struggled to start the season, and it's a huge loss for fantasy owners who likely drafted Jefferson first overall this summer. Pelissero mentioned the Vikings will now lean on players like Addison, Osborn and Hockenson in the passing game, and Mattison could be more involved as well out of the backfield.