Patriots lineman Riley Reiff reverts to season-ending IR

The Eagles became the first team to let a player’s IR activation window close this season, leaving safety Justin Evans on IR. The Patriots will be the second. New England will not activate Riley Reiff for a second time, with Bill Belichick indicating the tackle’s three-week window will close.

Reiff signed a one-year, $5M deal with the Patriots in March, representing a low-cost solution attempt for the team at right tackle. But the former first-round pick could not stay healthy. The Pats placed Reiff on IR before Week 1, and his return consisted of just one game. Wednesday’s transaction will end Reiff’s season after 45 snaps.

Belichick said, via ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss, three Reiff setbacks will lead the team to keep him on IR rather than use another activation. New England activated Reiff in Week 5, when he was first eligible, after a leg injury had sidelined him. Reiff, 35, sustained a knee injury — one Belichick classified as different from the ailment that sidelined the 12th-year vet in August — upon attempting to come back.

This marks familiar territory for Reiff, whose RT run with the Bengals ended because of a late-season injury, but the former Lions first-rounder has largely avoided steady injury trouble. Reiff came into this season having never missed more than five games in one campaign; other than 2021, he had never missed more than three in a season. His injury-prone run with the Pats has represented one of the team’s many problems in a season that has been bad enough to remind of the franchise’s pre-Bill Parcells days.