Patriots Secondary Could Be in Trouble

By Matt Schauf | Updated on Sat, Oct 5 2024 4:43 PM UTC

The Patriots will be without S Jabrill Peppers for Sunday's game against the Dolphins. After initially listing him as questionable with a shoulder injury, New England downgraded him to out Saturday. Three other key DBs and an edge starter might also be out.

2024 Fantasy Football Impact

S Kyle Dugger is officially questionable with an ankle injury, but ESPN's Mike Reiss says the Pats "are likely to be without" him for the game. That would leave Jaylinn Hawkins starting at one spot and Dell Pettus likely joining him.

Hawkins is in his fifth NFL season and previously started games for the Falcons and Chargers -- including spending all of 2022 as a starter. Pettus -- I'm pretty sure -- is a player HC Jerod Mayo created on Madden this morning.

In actuality, Pettus is an undrafted rookie who spent five years at Troy and doesn't stand out on college stats, athletic testing (47th-percentile speed score), or size (5'11, 200 pounds).

The secondary might also miss CB Jonathan Jones (shoulder) and/or CB Marcus Jones (groin). Both are questionable, as is Edge Anfernee Jennings (shoulder).

Is all that enough to make Dolphins QB Tyler Huntley an attractive starting option in fantasy? No. Does it add risk to New England as a DST play? Yes.

That said, the matchup -- and other Week 5 options -- keep New England as a top 12 play for the week.

Matt Schauf, Editor

Matt has earned two Fantasy Pros accuracy awards for IDP rankings and won thousands of dollars as a player across best ball, dynasty, and high-stakes fantasy formats. He has been creating fantasy football content for more than 20 years, with work featured by Sporting News, Rotoworld, Athlon, Sirius XM, and others. He's been with Draft Sharks since 2011.