Austin landed on injured reserve after Week 3.
The New England Patriots are close to getting reinforcements in their secondary.
After being placed on injured reserve with an ankle injury on Sept. 28, cornerback Alex Austin returned to Patriots practice on Wednesday. The 21-day window for the team to activate him to the activate roster now begins.
No Drake Maye or Vederian Lowe to start #Patriots practice today.
Ja’Lynn Polk and Layden Robinson are back.
CB Alex Austin also returned, starting the clock for him to be activated off IR. pic.twitter.com/DWWSBzqsPF
— Brian Hines (@iambrianhines) October 30, 2024
Austin, 23, was signed to New England’s roster last November after spending short stints with the Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans. The 2023 seventh-round draft choice went on to play five games for the Patriots where he recorded two pass breakups and his first career interception.
Before suffering the ankle injury this season, Austin served a depth role in New England’s secondary. Through the first three games of the season, Austin played just 14 defensive snaps (all in Week 3) as he worked behind Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones, and Marco Wilson at cornerback.
He added an additional 20 total snaps across two special team units.
Outside of Austin, rookie tackle Caedan Wallace, who also suffered an ankle injury in a Week 3 loss, now becomes the lone member on the Patriots’ injured reserve with hopes of returning this season.
Speaking Wednesday morning, head coach Jerod Mayo noted Wallace will not return to the practice field this week, however.
The Patriots first injury report of the week will be released Wednesday afternoon as the team preps for a Week 9 matchup against the Tennessee Titans.