Patriots Place Key Special Teams Player On Injured Reserve

The New England Patriots will be operating without a key special teams cog for a while.

New England announced it placed special teamer Cody Davis on injured reserve Tuesday after the nine-year veteran suffered a knee injury in the team’s 38-15 victory over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Davis, 33, has appeared in each of the Patriots’ six games this season and leads the team in special teams tackles.

In addition to Davis’ placement on IR, the Patriots cut kicker Tristian Vizcaino from their practice squad. The 26-year-old’s second stint in New England started on Sept. 21 after he had been cut from the team at the end of training camp. Vizcaino has spent his four NFL seasons bouncing around between the Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Chargers and Patriots.

With Davis out, the Patriots will have a variety of core special teams jobs to fill, most notably the personal punt protector for Jake Bailey. As was pointed out by ESPN’s Mike Reiss, New England called upon Adrian Phillips, Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Pierre Strong Jr. to fill Davis’ roles after he left Sunday’s game.

The Patriots now have one open spot on their 53-man roster as well as their practice squad.