The Patriots beat the Bills 29-26, but the next roster move told a different story.
Instead of looking like a team that had settled its biggest questions, New England hosted a group of free agents for a workout after the divisional win, and former running back Jamaal Williams was part of it. That alone makes the timing worth watching. The Patriots already addressed the backfield once this year, acquiring Corey Kiner from the Arizona Cardinals just before the regular season began after Miller failed to make the final 53-man roster. Yet here they were again, checking on another veteran runner.
Williams is not a mystery name. He has 1,069 carries for 4,122 yards and 32 touchdowns, plus 187 catches for 1,310 yards and eight scores in 117 regular-season games. He also has not played since 2024, when he finished with 48 carries for 164 yards and a touchdown with the Saints. At 220 pounds, he is the lightest he has been as an NFL player. That profile makes the workout easy to understand as a search for depth, but it also underscores how much New England is still piecing together on the fly.
The Patriots’ offensive line remains the clearest place where the roster has been forced to absorb too much. Against Buffalo, the unit allowed a career-high 21 pressures on Drake Maye. Ben Brown was in the lineup in place of the injured Mike Onwenu and Greg Van Roten, a reminder that the Patriots are already leaning on backup options in spots that usually have to hold up for an entire season. Brown’s offseason contract extension fits that same theme: New England has been building around contingency plans as much as around starters.
That is why the Williams workout lands as more than a routine look. It comes after the Patriots brought back four starters from the 2025 offensive line, which suggests the team chose continuity even after a season in which the protection issues were obvious. The draft brought another answer in Caleb Lomu, the Utah left tackle selected in the first round of the 2026 draft, and he allowed zero sacks in 2025 for the Utes. But the Patriots are still being forced to search for help in the present, not just the future.
The same tension shows up elsewhere on the roster. Mack Hollins left the win over Buffalo with a non-contact injury, and he might need to miss at least one game. That leaves another layer of uncertainty in a receiver group that can ill afford it, especially when the team is trying to stabilize around a young quarterback and a line that has already been stressed.
There is also the question of whether New England is doing enough before the market tightens. The Patriots have just over a month until the trade deadline, and one of the other reports around the team pointed to a potential defensive move that could address a glaring flaw. That matters because the Patriots are not just collecting names; they are deciding which problems deserve urgency first.
Not every development has been negative. Rookie Erick Hunter has started to carve out a role on special teams after being claimed on waivers at the end of August. He was a healthy scratch in Week 1, then played 25 snaps across Weeks 2 and 3. Against the Bills, he made four special teams tackles in 19 snaps, and the Patriots kept Buffalo’s kick return average under 25 yards. He also had six tackles in 70 defensive snaps during preseason with the Lions and posted 103 tackles and five sacks at Morgan State last season.
That is the kind of useful depth every team wants. But it does not answer the larger question hanging over New England’s recent activity: whether the Patriots are fixing the spots that most clearly need fixing, or simply staying busy while the biggest roster issues remain in place.