The New England Patriots concluded their 2026 preseason on Thursday night after falling handily on the road to the Cleveland Browns 37-13.
Head coach Mike Vrabel spoke to the media after the contest, and while the team wants to remain careful with the situation, he kept open the possibility of defensive edge Harold Landry being activated off the PUP list before the season opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 9.
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Special teams ace Brenden Schooler, who was placed on the NFI (Non-Football Injury/Illness) list on July 24 ahead of training camp, was also included as a potential activation by Vrabel.
“I think we’ll just continue to see when we get back,” Vrabel said about whether he anticipates the two being activated before roster cuts. “Brenden Schooler and Harold [Landry] both stayed back, and they have to be able to pass certain things because once you take them off [the lists], that’s kind of what it is.
“And so, we just want to be very careful and smart with them and not force them into anything. But on the same note, if they can do and relatively perform where we expect them to and where they expect themselves to, that could be a possibility that we could be able to bring those guys off.”
Landry dealt with a lingering knee injury during the latter half of last season, which caused the veteran to miss the AFC Championship Game. As a result, Landry underwent knee surgery earlier in the offseason and has been on the PUP (Active/Physically Unable to Perform) list since July 21.
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Following last week’s preseason victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, Vrabel said he doesn’t think the Patriots have a very deep roster when asked about personnel usage heading into the Cleveland matchup. He later explained on Monday, appearing on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show, that those remarks were not a shot at the front office and instead a focus on developing the team’s young players.
Throughout the summer, the lack of depth on the defensive edge without Landry, paired with the free-agency signing of Dre’Mont Jones, has been a prominent topic. If the 30-year-old is not activated before the NFL’s roster cutdown deadline on Sunday, Aug. 30, he will miss at least the first four games of the regular season.
On Thursday evening, New England’s defense as a whole struggled to make an impact.
“Not good enough,” Vrabel said about the defense’s effort. “They felt like we got a couple of sudden-change stops and forced them to kick field goals, which I think is always positive. But just not enough. Couldn’t match up to the speed of the quarterback on the zone read and some of those things. But we’ll get back to work and figure out who we’re going to get back to work with.”
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While the Patriots struggled to consistently stop the Browns’ rushing attack, they also had difficulties containing dual-threat quarterback Taylen Green, who ran for 66 yards.
On a second-half third-down, Cleveland ran a read-option play with the quarterback. Rookie defensive edge Gabe Jacas bit too far into the backfield in preparation for a run play, leaving Green the edge to convert the first down and more.
Looking ahead to Sunday, New England will need to make roster cuts by 6 p.m. ET.
“We’ll make those decisions tonight, tomorrow morning and over the weekend. We’re always going to try to strengthen the roster. Find guys with Eliot [Wolf] and his staff,” Vrabel said. “It’s a very fluid process.
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“There are going to be players who are going to be with us, and there are going to be [players] maybe picked up by somebody else. We’re going to be looking at people. We’re 31st in the [waiver] claim. It’s just about being patient and figuring out where the right guys are.”
All transactions made in the coming days will be made in preparation for compiling a roster strong enough to compete with the Seahawks to kick off the new season with a Super Bowl rematch.
