For the first time in six years, the Patriots will play a game Sunday night without Matthew Slater.
New England’s longtime special teams captain was ruled out for the Christmas Eve matchup with the Denver Broncos after being listed as questionable with a hamstring injury.
Slater suffered the injury during the Patriots’ Week 15 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs but later returned. This will be the first game he’s missed since Week 12 of the 2017 season, snapping a streak of 100 consecutive regular-season appearances.
The 38-year-old ranks third among Patriots players in special teams snaps played this season (326), two shy of co-leaders Chris Board and Brenden Schooler. His loss could prove consequential against Broncos rookie Marvin Mims, who entered Week 16 leading the NFL in punt- and kick-return average (minimum 10 returns).
“Mims is having a great year,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday. “Both punt and kickoff returns, they really create a lot of field position there.”
The Patriots previously ruled out four other players due to injury: running back Rhamondre Stevenson, safety Jabrill Peppers, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight end Hunter Henry. It’s the first DNP for Henry or Peppers since they joined the Patriots in 2021 and ’22, respectively.
New England also placed left guard Cole Strange and offensive tackle Conor McDermott on injured reserve this week, ruling them out for the rest of the season.
Starting left tackle Trent Brown returned to the lineup after missing the Kansas City game with multiple injuries. Brown has not seen a full gameday workload since Week 8, rotating with McDermott in each of his last three appearances. If the Patriots continue that rotation, Vederian Lowe likely would be the one to spell Brown with McDermott unavailable.
Rounding out the Patriots’ inactive list were defensive end Sam Roberts and quarterback Nathan Rourke, both of whom were healthy scratches. Rourke, who was claimed off waivers from Jacksonville this week, was designated as the emergency third QB behind Bailey Zappe and Mac Jones.
Tight end Matt Sokol and cornerback Breon Borders both were active after being elevated from the practice squad, as was guard/center James Ferentz, who was signed to the 53-man roster from the P-squad on Saturday.
Kickoff at Empower Field is set for 8:15 p.m. ET.
