Under new NFL rules, teams can activate up to 48 players on game days this season, as long as the 48th is an offensive lineman.
Expect the New England Patriots to take full advantage of those numbers during Sunday’s season-opening matchup against the Miami Dolphins.
With a shortened training camp and no preseason warmup games, Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said the team might need to utilize its entire gameday roster in the early stages of the regular season.
“We’ve talked a lot about this with our team,” McDaniels said Tuesday. “We don’t have a player on our roster right now that has played a 70-play game (this season).