{"id":772020,"date":"2026-02-23T22:42:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772020\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T22:42:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:42:23","slug":"patriots-release-veteran-running-back-ahead-of-nfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/772020\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots release veteran running back ahead of NFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Antonio Gibson\u2019s stay in Foxborough has reached its end ahead of the 2026 league year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The New England Patriots <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Patriots\/status\/2026039788688547925?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">announced<\/a> the veteran running back\u2019s release on Monday after a campaign that ended on injured reserve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Gibson, 27, sustained a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patspulpit.com\/new-england-patriots-news\/111286\/patriots-place-antonio-gibson-injured-reserve-open-roster-spot\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">torn ACL<\/a> in October during a kickoff return versus the Buffalo Bills. He was set to enter the final year of a three-year, $11.25 million contract, yet had no guaranteed money remaining. His departure clears $2.135 million in cap space, per <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/patscap.bsky.social\/post\/3mfkkzevni225\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PatsCap\u2019s Miguel Benzan<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Arriving at Gillette Stadium as an unrestricted free agent from the Washington Commanders in 2024, Gibson went on to appear in 22 games. Across 191 total touches, he scored three touchdowns while handling 644 rushing yards, 214 receiving yards and 581 return yards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">And last September, the all-purpose back was named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patspulpit.com\/new-england-patriots-news\/109375\/patriots-antonio-gibson-afc-special-teams-player-of-the-week-dolphins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">AFC Special Teams Player of the Week<\/a> after amassing 171 yards in the kicking game against the Miami Dolphins, led by a 90-yard, go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter as head coach Mike Vrabel chased down the sideline.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">By way of East Central Community College and the University of Memphis, Gibson entered the NFL in the third round of the 2020 draft at No. 66 overall. Through 83 games, including 35 starts, the 6-foot, 228-pound former wide receiver stands with 32 touchdowns. His career includes 4,782 yards from scrimmage through 984 carries and catches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">New England\u2019s running back depth chart nears March with Rhamondre Stevenson, TreVeyon Henderson, Terrell Jennings, Lan Larison and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patspulpit.com\/new-england-patriots-news\/122033\/patriots-sign-elijah-mitchell-sebastian-gutierrez-futures-contracts-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recent futures signing<\/a> Elijah Mitchell under contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Antonio Gibson\u2019s stay in Foxborough has reached its end ahead of the 2026 league year. The New England&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,57412,726,4834,728,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-772020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-free-agency","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-news","13":"tag-new-england-patriots-offseason-coverage","14":"tag-new-england-patriots-roster","15":"tag-newengland","16":"tag-newenglandpatriots","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116122363107104589","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772020","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=772020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}