All the signs were pointing in the direction of Jakob Johnson joining the Patriots roster, and that’s precisely what happened Saturday morning.
Ahead of Sunday’s game against the New York Jets, the Patriots promoted Johnson from the practice squad to the 53-man roster. Johnson was among the cuts at the end of the preseason, but he went unclaimed and landed on the practice squad. The Patriots had an open roster spot due to the release of Antonio Brown, and top fullback James Develin already has been ruled out with a neck injury.
It’ll be fascinating to see how Bill Belichick plans to use Johnson should he make the 46-man gameday roster. He’s a versatile player for a fullback, even getting used as an outside linebacker in the final preseason game. He was, after all, recruited to the University of Tennessee as a linebacker before getting transitioned to a fullback.
Johnson, who is from Germany, went undrafted this year and signed with the Patriots in April as part of the NFL’s International Player Pathway program.
Patriots-Jets is set to kick off at 1 p.m. ET from Gillette Stadium.
