The Patriots placed tight end Julian Hill on injured reserve Monday after a knee injury in practice, ending his 2026 season. New England cleared space after the A.J. Brown trade and has already shifted to players like Jack Westover, Eli Raridon, and C.J. Dippr
By Tuesday morning, the Patriots’ offseason plans had to make a hard pivot—because Julian Hill’s knee injury had become something more than a worry.
Hill was placed on injured reserve on Monday, ending his 2026 season before it ever truly started. The move also came with a practical roster need: after New England completed its trade for wide receiver A.J. Brown, the team needed to clear a spot on its 90-man offseason roster. It did that by moving a member of its tight end group to IR.
Hill’s injury history matters to the stakes here. He had been recently injured in practice, and his absence doesn’t just thin the group—it forces the Patriots to test the competition for the second tight end role now, not later.
When the Patriots signed Hill to a three-year, $15 million free agency contract in March, the intention was straightforward. They wanted his blocking, and they expected him to complement Hunter Henry as a rotational No. 2 at tight end.
With Hill no longer in the mix for 2026, the Patriots adjusted during the second open organized team activity of the spring. They inserted tight end/fullback hybrid Jack Westover as their TE2. Eli Raridon—an incoming third-round rookie—and second-year C.J. Dippre both also saw an uptick in snaps.
That’s where the depth chart now sits, based on the current roster breakdown:
On the 90-man roster (5): Hunter Henry (85), Jack Westover (37), Eli Raridon (82), C.J. Dippre (81), Tanner Arkin (84).
Injured reserve: Julian Hill (80).
If Hill had stayed healthy. the expectation was that he would have been a lock to make the Patriots’ roster this fall and likely would have seen prominent snaps. Instead, the depth behind Henry is being tested, and the timing makes it more than academic. Henry remains the top tight end heading into 2026. and Raridon is described as an intriguing prospect with the ability to eventually fill a similar all-around role. Still. the Patriots appear to be in the market for more help because of what the injury takes away—and what remains unproven.
Henry is also getting up there in age, and the four other active tight ends on the roster are all unproven.
For now, the Patriots will have to live with the immediate roster reality while planning beyond it. The team can still consider veteran free agents on workouts in the near future, especially with the position’s reliability suddenly under a brighter spotlight.
The financial side of Hill’s removal is less visible to fans, but it is part of why this move matters to the franchise.
Removing Hill from the active roster for the season impacts the Patriots’ salary cap, though not in the current year. He will still receive a regular base salary this year and is entitled to his signing bonus.
However. because he failed to earn any of his per-game active roster bonuses this season. the amount initially classified as likely to be earned—14 of 17 installments based on his 14 in-game appearances last year—will be credited to New England’s 2027 cap. That eventually becomes a $630,000 credit next year.
His 2027 cap number has also changed. It previously stood at $5.4 million, but it has dropped to $4.635 million. With all of his roster bonuses now seen as unlikely to be earned. the maximum bonus amount of $765. 000 will not count against the Patriots’ books next season. and it will only become relevant again once earned.
Up until Hill went down. the Patriots had avoided major injuries since the start of their offseason workout program in April. The knee issue is now giving the team an unwanted distinction: Hill. 25 years old. is the first player placed on injured reserve and removed from the active roster for the 2026 season.
The procedural timing also limits options later. Starting in 2024. teams are allowed to designate up to two players to return from injured reserve even if sent there before the roster cutdown deadline. But to be eligible. the move to IR would have to take place “during the business day of the final roster reduction. ” meaning on cutdown day itself.
Even if Hill’s injury would not have been season-ending per se—which, again, it is—placing him on IR at this point in time would disqualify him from being reactivated at any point during the 2026 season.
For the Patriots, that’s the clean, unavoidable bottom line: Hill’s season is over. The question now is whether the group behind Henry can absorb the loss quickly enough to keep New England’s tight end plan from turning into a long-term compromise.
Julian Hill Patriots injured reserve tight end depth Hunter Henry Jack Westover Eli Raridon C.J. Dippre A.J. Brown trade 2027 salary cap