{"id":704860,"date":"2026-01-25T22:01:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/704860\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T22:01:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T22:01:13","slug":"patriots-vs-broncos-inactives-wr-groups-trending-in-opposite-directions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/704860\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots vs. Broncos inactives: WR groups trending in opposite directions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New England Patriots offense received a boost this week. Wide receiver Mack Hollins returned to practice after missing the last four weeks with an abdomen ailment, and on Saturday was officially activated from injured reserve<\/a> to the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n

Before his injury in late December, Hollins had been a starter-level contributor for the Patriots. The offseason signing had been on the field for 657 offensive snaps \u2014 most among the team\u2019s wideouts \u2014 and was ranked third on the team in catches (46) and receiving yards (550) over the first 15 games of the year. Naturally, his return changes the wide receiver group for the AFC Championship Game against the Denver Broncos.<\/p>\n

The immediate fallout is another wideout moving to the game day inactives list. Rookie Efton Chism, who played 103 offensive snaps during Hollins\u2019 absence and caught four passes for 95 yards and a touchdown, has been made a healthy scratch for Sunday\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n

The Patriots\u2019 inactives, meanwhile, looks as follows.<\/p>\n

While the Patriots activated Mack Hollins from injured reserve this week, they opted against doing the same with running back Terrell Jennings (concussion) and defensive tackle Joshua Farmer (hamstring). Both are therefore unavailable, as is starting outside linebacker Harold Landry, who missed the entire week of practice with a knee injury and was ruled out on Friday. With Landry the only one of the three currently on the active roster, he is the only one who had to be specifically deactivated.<\/p>\n

Besides the team captain and the aforementioned Efton Chism, the inactives list features five more healthy scratches. Not among that group is rookie edge Bradyn Swinson, who is active to provide depth with Landry out.<\/p>\n

Whereas the Patriots\u2019 receiver group is in better shape now with Hollins back in the mix, the Broncos\u2019 suffered a blow ahead of Sunday\u2019s game. Troy Franklin, Denver\u2019s No. 2 wideout this year, has been ruled out after being listed as questionable with a hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

Not listed among the Broncos\u2019 inactives is Bo Nix. The team\u2019s starting quarterback, who attempted every one of Denver\u2019s passes so far this season, suffered a season-ending ankle injury last Sunday against Buffalo. He was placed on injured reserve on Saturday, removing him from the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n

Kickoff between the Patriots and Broncos at Denver\u2019s Mile High Stadium is set for 3 p.m. ET<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The New England Patriots offense received a boost this week. Wide receiver Mack Hollins returned to practice after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,12136,726,728,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-704860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england-patriots-injuries","10":"tag-new-england-patriots-news","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-roster","12":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115957994864827524","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}