The New England Patriots have officially released Darrell Taylor from their practice squad just nine days after the defensive end initially signed with the team, and they weren’t particularly nice about it either. The former Houston Texan signed with New England four days before the Patriots’ Divisional Round matchup against his former team.
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During Friday’s press conference, head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about how Taylor was settling in with the team. “Yeah, we released Taylor. We’ll put that out here at four o’clock,” he bluntly stated. “So, not very well.”
Reporter: “How's Darrell Taylor gotten acclimated so far?”
Mike Vrabel: "Uhhhh. Yeah. We released Darrell Taylor. We’ll put that out here at 4:00. So not very well.” 😬 pic.twitter.com/hR9ysMWzQz
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) January 23, 2026
The fact that New England signed a former Texans defender to their practice squad just before their game against Houston, only to release that player nine days later once they had beaten the Texans, may seem a bit fishy at a surface level. However, another one of the Patriots’ recent moves suggests that this may be more of a business trend rather than an attempted effort at paying for secret information from a former player.
In late December, the franchise announced that it was signing the former running back for the San Francisco 49ers, Elijah Mitchell, to their practice squad. This was in direct response to their rookie running back, TreVeyon Henderson, entering the league’s concussion protocol.
Once Henderson was good to go, the Patriots released Mitchell, and ironically enough, that was done on the same day in which the franchise announced that it was signing Darrell to the practice squad. Mitchell’s tenure in New England lasted a total of 22 days.
Suffice to say, the simplest answer is often the correct one, and in this case, that means that the Patriots are operating on an as-needed basis, and that their front office is likely one of the more punctual ones in the NFL.
On a more positive note, one of New England’s primary cornerbacks, Carlton Davis III, was able to return to practice this week after sustaining a head injury during their outing against the Texans. There was initially some concern about whether or not he would be able to clear the league’s concussion protocol in time for the AFC Championship. But after a full week of practice, he’s now been cleared to compete.
Furthermore, Mack Hollins was able to open his 21-day activation window by returning to practice on Thursday afternoon. After being limited on day one, he was able to be a full participant on Friday, which is an incredibly positive sign for both Hollins and New England, who could certainly make use of his large catch radius on Sunday afternoon.
Simply put, the Patriots are starting to get healthy right as things are beginning to matter the most. And if things continue to trend upwards for them, then they may just find themselves holding their first conference trophy since Tom Brady last hoisted it for them in 2018.
