The Patriots had eight rookies on their game day roster for the 30-13 loss.
The New England Patriots traveled to the West Coast for their Week 4 contest, a trip that ended in disappointment. The team of head coach Jerod Mayo was blown out with a final score of 30-13 by the San Francisco 49ers, losing a third straight game to drop to 1-3 on the year.
Like the team overall, New England’s rookie class also was relatively quiet. Let’s assess the group and its performance on Sunday.
Game day roster
QB Drake Maye: After making his brief NFL debut in Week 3, Maye remained on the bench throughout Sunday’s game in Santa Clara. The third overall pick of this year’s draft is still the No. 2 quarterback behind veteran starter Jacoby Brissett, and continues to see around 30 percent of reps in practice. Despite the offense struggling four games into the season, Mayo and the Patriots are still riding the Brissett train with no immediate change in sight.
WR Ja’Lynn Polk: Serving as the Patriots’ No. 1 wide receiver in terms of snaps played, Polk was the team’s primary perimeter receiver versus the 49ers. Like the entire passing game, he was again quiet and finished with three receptions for 30 yards on a team-high seven targets. One of those unsuccessful targets did provide a glimpse into his potential, though: midway through the fourth quarter, Brissett fired a deep sideline shot that the second-rounder managed to haul in despite two defenders draped all over him; unfortunately, he was ruled out of bounds to take what would have been a 40-yard reception off the board.
OT/TE Caedan Wallace: After serving as left tackle last week, the Patriots decided to remove Wallace from the lineup even with starter Vederian Lowe still out. Whether his performance in Week 3 or his injury status — he was questionable with a knee injury — contributed to that decision is not known. Fact is that the third-round pick ended up playing just three snaps, all as a “muscle tight end.” On the final of those snaps, he suffered a game-ending ankle injury and had to be carted to the locker room. He was spotted in a walking boot and on crutches after the game.
RG Layden Robinson: Week 4 was more of the same for Layden Robinson, for better and worse. Starting at right guard and playing all 64 offensive snaps, he had some positive blocks in the running game. However, his pass protection continues to be a major issue: he was credited with one sack and six additional pressures surrendered, and was a liability in the passing game for much of the day. While a lot of focus has been on the left tackle spot this early in the season, Robinson has not been up to the task lately either.
WR Javon Baker: Even though he did make the game day roster for a third straight week, Baker was a non-factor against the 49ers. Together with Drake Maye, the fourth-rounder spent the entire game on the bench and appears to clearly be behind fellow depth receivers Tyquan Thornton and Kayshon Boutte at the moment.
CB/ST Marcellas Dial Jr.: Business as usual for the Patriots’ lone defensive draft pick on Sunday. Dial Jr. was on the field for 23 snaps versus San Francisco, with all of them coming in the kicking game. Tying Brenden Schooler for the team lead in that regard, he continues to be a five-unit presence seeing action on the all return and coverage teams as well as the field goal/extra point blocking unit.
S/ST Dell Pettus: The Patriots’ personal punt protector again lined up on four special teams units — punt coverage, kickoff coverage, kickoff return, field goal/extra point block — and played a combined 15 snaps in the game’s third phase. Additionally, he was on the field for seven defensive snaps in an effort to help replace in-game injury Kyle Dugger at the safety position. One of those reps saw the undrafted free agent involved in Brock Purdy’s touchdown pass to George Kittle; Pettus was one of the three defenders trying to stop cover Kittle on the play and appeared to have made a wrong decision as to his coverage responsibility.
LB Curtis Jacobs: After playing exclusively on special teams in his Patriots debut last week, Jacobs saw his first defensive snaps on Sunday. Playing 10 of them, he primarily lined up as an outside linebacker and as such replaced a struggling Joshua Uche late in the game. Additionally, he played 15 kicking game snaps between his contributions on the return and coverage teams.
Inactive
The rest of the Patriots’ rookie class was not active for game day against the Bengals. Emergency QB Joe Milton III, TE Jaheim Bell and ED Jamree Kromah were made healthy scratches in Week 4.
In addition to those three players, five rookies were on the classic practice squad for Sunday’s game. None of C Bryan Hudson, CB D.J. James, RB Terrell Jennings, WR John Jiles and S Mark Perry were elevated to the game day roster. International player ED Jotham Russell, meanwhile, carries a practice squad exception and is not expected to appear in any games this season.
Another rookie, WR JaQuae Jackson, is on season-ending injured reserve.