What signing Jamree Kromah, placing Oshane Ximines on injured reserve means for the Patriots

The Patriots made two roster moves on the eve of their Week 3 game in New York.

The New England Patriots made a pair of roster moves on the eve of their Week 3 game against the New York Jets.

Outside linebacker Oshane Ximines, who had previously been ruled out for the game because of a knee injury, was sent from the active roster to the injured reserve list. In a follow-up move, the team signed defensive lineman Jamree Kromah off the Chicago Bears’ practice squad.

What do those transactions mean for the Patriots? Let’s find out by taking a big-picture look at them and the players involved.

DL Jamree Kromah: Signed to 53-man roster

Kromah offers intriguing versatility: An undrafted free agent earlier this year, Kromah started his NFL career with the Bears and was used primarily as an edge defender in his rookie preseason. However, a look back at his final college season at James Madison shows that he might have more to offer.

As the following clips compiled by Windy City Gridiron’s Jacob Infante show, Kromah could wear multiple hats along a team’s defensive line.

Playing a multi-faceted role during his 2023 senior campaign with the Dukes, Kromah registered 10 sacks among 42 total quarterback pressures, 19.5 tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. The first-team All-Sun Belt selection seamlessly transitioned between techniques and consistently managed to take advantage of matchups.

How the Patriots will use him remains to be seen. At least based on his college tape, however, it appears he might be more fitted to fill a role similar to that played by Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr. — end-of-line player who is also capable to move inside if need be — rather than replace Ximines as an outside linebacker.

Patriots add a serious athlete to their front seven: While his Relative Athletic Score changes depending on his position as either an interior defender (9.67) or an edge (7.79), fact is Kromah offers some good baseline athleticism. Obviously, athleticism enough does not make an NFL-caliber player, but it does make the job easier — and possibly the transition from one defensive system to another on short notice.

A debut on Thursday seems unlikely: Nothing can ever truly be ruled out when it comes to the NFL, but Kromah suiting up on Thursday night after just getting added to the team seems highly unlikely. The logistics alone work against that, even if he manages to get to New Jersey in time for Thursday night’s kickoff.

Realistically, he will get a chance to get up to speed over the course of New England’s upcoming mini-bye. Whether that leads to actual playing time further down the line is anybody’s guess at this point in time.

New England loses some cap space: The Patriots poaching Kromah from the Chicago practice squad means that they are also picking up the remainder of his contract with the Bears. Consequently, as pointed out by salary cap expert Miguel Benzan, their cap space did decrease by $706,667 down to $36.51 million.

That sum of $706,667 is the sum of his 16 game checks remaining for the 2024 season.

The Patriots have a Scarlet Knight on their roster again: While Kromah spent the last two years of his college career at James Madison, he actually started out at Rutgers. The Patriots’ history with that program is well-documented, but the 24-year-old is actually the only Scarlet Knight currently on the 53-man team. The only other ex-Rutgers player is wide receiver JaQuae Jackson, who currently resides on season-ending injured reserve.

ED Oshane Ximines: Placed on injured reserve

Ximines will miss at least four games: The Patriots moving Ximines to IR means that he will have to sit out at least the next four games. This means that he will miss his team’s contests in New York and San Francisco as well as the subsequent two home games versus Miami and Houston.

Ximines will be eligible to return to the active roster ahead of the Patriots’ Week 7 game in London against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

New England’s defense takes another hit: Injuries are starting to mount for the New England defense. After already losing defensive tackle Christian Barmore to blood clots early in training camp — he is currently on the non-football injury/illness list — the team also saw linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley go down with a pectoral injury on Sunday against the Seattle Seahawks; Bentley remains on the active roster despite the injury reportedly being considered season-ending.

In addition to those two, linebacker Sione Takitaki and safety Marte Mapu remain on the physically unable to perform list. Both of them are eligible to return by Week 5.

The edge depth gets tested: The Patriots entered the regular season with only three pure edges on their roster in Anfernee Jennings, Joshua Uche and Ximines. With the latter now off to injured reserve, Jennings and Uche are the last men standing. As a consequence, the team will have to find some depth elsewhere.

The most realistic candidates to help bolster the group are the aforementioned Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr., both of whom having shown that they are capable to align outside as well as inside. Additionally, linebacker Jahlani Tavai will factor into the mix as well: he already spent 28.3 percent of his defensive snaps on the line over the first two weeks of the season — a number that might increase depending on how the team wants to replace both Bentley and Ximines.

Furthermore, Ochaun Mathis offers depth on the practice squad.

Special teams will feel his absence: Ximines’ contributions to the Patriots so far this season were not limited to defense. In fact, a majority of his overall snaps — 30 of 44 — came in the kicking game: he was a five-unit player, aligning on both return and coverage teams as well as the field goal extra point blocking unit.

How will New England fill those roles moving forward? Time will tell, but based on the game against Seattle both Joshua Uche and Anfernee Jennings might see their special teams roles increase for at least the next four weeks.