FOXBOROUGH β The Patriots haven't even played a game yet and their two thinnest positions, cornerback and receiver, appear to have taken big hits ahead of Sunday's opener against the Dolphins.
Both cornerback Jalen Mills and receiver Nelson Agholor did not practice on Thursday after being limited on Wednesday. Both are dealing with ankle injuries, according to the injury report.
Mills and Agholor were both question marks heading into this season, for different reasons, but were considered probable starters.
What will the Patriots do now at both spots?
Receiver is the easy position, especially with the Patriots being primarily a two tight end offense. Depending on who was going to be more in the plans against the Dolphins, either Kendrick Bourne or Jakobi Meyers will get more time at X receiver for the Patriots. Gunner Olszewski will likely see the biggest increase in snaps.
Most likely, the Patriots would feel more comfortable moving Meyers to X, and having Olszewski take Meyers' snaps in the slots. Bourne has had issues with his route running in the preseason, so the Patriots might opt to leave him right where he is.
Malcolm Perry, and practice squad player Kristian Wilkerson could get more time as well.
Cornerback ... is complicated and more troublesome since the Patriots were already weak there with Stephon Gilmore still on PUP through Week 6.
Mills was expected to start next to JC Jackson as the boundary corner. Joejuan Williams, who has played just two snaps of boundary corner since being a second-round pick in 2019, would be next in line and is very green, but had a good summer and preseason at corner after playing mostly safety last season.
"I mean, he can cover. The dude can cover," said Adrian Phillips. "He's long and he can run, and he's physical ... pretty much everything you want. It's a little different covering tight ends to receivers, but he's a guy that could do it, like fluidly. We can ask him to cover whoever. He's a guy that works hard and wants to be great at everything, so he can handle it."
Jonathan Jones could slide outside from slot on early downs. Myles Bryant and D'Angelo Ross on practice squad are slot/DB types.
Either way, it's not an ideal situation, but Phillips, for one, isn't sweating being without Gilmore to start the season.
"You always want your guys out there and we all know about Steph, when he's out there, he's a shutdown player," Phillips said. "It's unfortunate that he's not out here but the guys that have stepped up in his role, they've been balling. I mean y'all know about JC, and then we bring in guys like J=Mills and Joejuan, guys that have just stepped up and taken their game to a whole nother level. We'll be fine.