Patriots lose defensive player in unexpected fashion ahead of Carolina Panthers game in Week 4

Mark Robinson is going to the Jets.

Wendell Ferreira — NFL News Writer
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The New England Patriots have just lost a player to a divisional rival. On Tuesday, the New York Jets signed off-ball linebacker Mark Robinson off the Patriots’ practice squad to their active 53-man roster. The move was first reported by NFL Network’s insider Tom Pelissero.

How it works

A player who is on a team’s practice squad is essentially a free agent. He can sign with any other team at any point of the season, granted it’s for an active roster spot elsewhere.

The only limitations for the signing team are that it can’t be in the week of those teams’ matchup versus each other, and the player has to stay at least three weeks on the roster.

Who is Mark Robinson

A seventh-round pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2022, Mark Robinson spent his first three seasons with the Steelers. This year, he spent most of the training camp and preseason still in Pittsburgh, but was waived ahead of the final roster cuts.

Available in free agency for the first time in his NFL career, Robinson signed with the Patriots’ practice squad in late August and spent the first three weeks of the season in New England.

The Patriots’ off-ball linebacker room on the active roster has Robert Spillane, Christian Elliss, Marte Mapu, and Jack Gibbens. Besides Robinson, the team still has Darius Harris on the practice squad at the position.

Meanwhile, Robinson joins a Jets’ position group with Jamien Sherwood, Quincy Williams, Cam Jones, Francisco Mauigoa, and Marcelino McCrary-Ball. However, Quincy Williams is expected to miss time because of a shoulder injury he suffered on Sunday.

The Patriots are 1-2 and play the Carolina Panthers this Sunday at Gillette Stadium. It’s a demanding sequence, because New England won’t have a bye until Week 14. That’s why every piece is so important, especially with NFL flexible rules regarding the elevation of practice squad players, which became more relevant since COVID.

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