The first-year Patriot has had a good season so far.
When the New England Patriots signed defensive tackle Jaquelin Roy in early September, the move came with little fanfare. And why would it not? He was a former fifth-round draft pick at an oft-overlooked position joining the team’s practice squad.
Fast forward, and Roy still remains one of the more anonymous players on the Patriots even after getting promoted to the 53-man roster. However, his performances the last four weeks justify him getting more spotlight — which is exactly what we intend to do now.
Let’s start by looking at some stats. Appearing in all four games since New England elevated him earlier this month, Roy has played a total of 98 defensive snaps. After initially aligning primarily as a pure nose tackle, he has broadened his role a bit: in Week 8 against the New York Jets, he lined up in multiple techniques along the defensive line.
That can be interpreted in two ways: 1.) The Patriots keep looking for answers up front with Christian Barmore still unavailable and throw players out there in different roles to see what does and doesn’t work, and 2.) Roy is growing more comfortable in the system and justifying seeing more action.
While there is some truth to the first perspective, one also cannot deny that Roy has performed fairly well. Is he on Barmore’s level? No, not even close. But has he performed better than one might expect from a former practice squad guy? Yes, he has.
Focusing mostly on the running game, he has had some moments to build on.
Jaquelin Roy is t-7th in total tackles and t-9th in total stops among IDL since becoming a rotational piece for the #Patriots in Wk 5
His play fell off late vs NYJ while playing a career-high 30 snaps, but Roy is an intriguing project for a DL low on young developmental talent pic.twitter.com/PywbdNp9XV
— Taylor Kyles (@tkyles39) October 29, 2024
Through four games, Roy has been credited with 14 tackles — 12 of them against the run — as well as four quarterback pressures. He registered his first two career sacks in Weeks 5 and 6, and also added one hurry each in Weeks 5 and 8.
Those numbers do not jump off the page, but they rarely do for run-first defensive tackles in a scheme like New England’s. In fact, his run production has been fairly decent as evidenced by the fact that he ranks ninth in the NFL among all interior D-linemen in stops since entering the rotation in early October.
At this point in his career Roy is a rotational role player and not somebody you would yet trust to play an extended amount of snaps. Against the Jets, for example, he seemed to run out of gas late after playing a career-high 30 defensive snaps (plus 4 on special teams).
Roy may never take that next step and become a starter-level presence along the New England defensive line. However, for a team trying to build a core for the future he can still be of some value both in 2024 and beyond.