New England Patriots rookie Gabe Jacas is not present at team OTAs, and now we may have a reason why. ESPN’s Mike Reiss discussed this in a podcast appearance earlier this week.
The Illinois product is one of two Patriots rookies who have not signed their rookie deal. Caleb Lomu is the other player. The edge rusher has also been bothered by injuries over the course of the last couple weeks. Reiss urged the fans not to panic and offered his insight into why the rookie has not been present at these workouts to this point in the offseason calendar.
“I’d be surprised if it was the contract… I was told by someone that I feel like would have the information that he should be back soon… I don’t sense this is any major alarm.”
Patriots Need Help in the Pass-Rushing Department
Jacas was drafted in the second round with the 55th overall pick. He should be able to bring Ed-Russian production to a Patriots unit that desperately needs some. The team ranked at the bottom of the league with 22 of the 35 sacks recorded by their edge players. Taking a look at some of the top units, the Houston Texans tag team of Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. combined for 27 sacks. Cleveland Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett set an NFL record with 23 individual sacks.
Looking at the Patriots individual production, the individual results certainly match the overall team production. Harold Landry III tied for 22nd in the lead with 8.5 sacks on the year. In the meantime, K’Lavon Chaisson tied for 29th with 7.5 sacks on the year. Chaisson went to the Washington Commanders in the offseason. Landry will be back, and looks to continue to add to the unit.
That being said, depth is an issue for the position. Thus, drafting Jacas certainly makes sense. The Patriots now have a young player to develop at a key position. Furthermore, the fact that he played at a Big 10 football school certainly helps, as the latter is one of the premier conferences in all of college football.
Patriots Fans Should Not Be Alarmed
This is still certainly a situation to watch. The fact that the rookie still hasn’t signed his deal is certainly notable. As Reiss notes, it’s probably not the time to panic yet. There is still time between now and training camp to get a deal done. It is commonplace for higher draft picks of an organization to take a little bit longer to sign a contract. These negotiations can often go into the middle of training camp before a deal is reached. Hopefully, the negotiations for Jacas will not take as long, but it certainly is possible.
In the meantime, the Patriots will undoubtedly be monitoring the situation closely. What the rookie does here will certainly be interesting. It will also be very interesting to see what the definition of ‘soon’ is in this case. This could go on for a couple more days, or even stretch a couple more weeks. Nobody knows for certain. What is clear right now is that he is not on the field. The fact that Reiss does not think it is contract-related certainly leaves a bit of murkiness to the situation. Now, the waiting game will begin.
Patriots Rookie’s Missing OTAs Becomes Clearer as New Details Emerge