{"id":858766,"date":"2026-04-07T11:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/858766\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T11:24:23","slug":"injured-patriots-rb-details-recovery-2026-expectations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/858766\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured Patriots RB Details Recovery, 2026 Expectations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last summer, the New England Patriots<\/a> ran up the score in the preseason opener against the Washington Commanders. One of the team’s six touchdowns was a two-yard toss sweep to rookie running back Lan Larison, who finished the 48-18 win with 35 rushing yards on seven carries.<\/p>\n

That was all she wrote for the undrafted free agent out of UC-Davis, as Larison was put on season-ending injured reserve with a broken foot. He missed his entire rookie season, watching the Patriots<\/a> make it all the way to their first Super Bowl since 2018.<\/p>\n

Now, as Larison works his way back onto the field, he’s ready to stay healthy for a full preseason and make his mark.<\/p>\n

What Are Larison’s Goals For 2026?<\/p>\n

“One thing that I would like to expand on going forward is just proving myself out of the backfield, whether it\u2019s my route craft or just knowing that I\u2019m a viable option to catch the ball,” Larison told Aggie pride, a UC-David football podcast, this offseason<\/a>. “I think I dropped a ball in our little scrimmage and it still haunts me to this day. I have flashbacks of it. I dropped a ball. I would have walked into the end zone. But neither here nor there; you can\u2019t beat yourself over that and move on to the next play.”<\/p>\n

Larison came to New England<\/a> with high hopes. The receiving back was a star for the Aggies in college, winning the Big Sky Offensive Player of the Year Award twice before signing with the Patriots last spring. He got thrown into a running back room with Rhamondre Stevenson, TreVeyon Henderson and Antonio Gibson, making plays during the summer.<\/p>\n

In the preseason win over Washington, he played just 29 snaps on the field — one of which was a 25-yard kick return. He also added in a tackle on special teams. So what does Larison have in mind for his second NFL season?<\/p>\n

\"New<\/p>\n

Jul 28, 2025; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots running back Lan Larison (34) heads to the practice fields for training camp at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images | Eric Canha-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

“Just being a better player, better athlete and really standing out in a singular role would be my goals going forward,” he said. “I\u2019m pretty proud that I could play a lot of different positions and that they are trusting me that I could play a lot of different positions whether it\u2019s on punt, kick return, kickoff.”<\/p>\n

It’s A Small RB Room … For Now<\/p>\n

Larison admitted that because the Patriots<\/a> had a good season, he’s already starting his career on a positive note. Being able to watch winning football helped him off the field. In 2026, however, he’s fighting for a roster spot. Behind Stevenson and Henderson, he’s clumped into a position room that features Terrell Jennings and Elijah Mitchell. The Patriots are also expected to add another running back in the draft later this month.<\/p>\n

While Larison still has an uphill climb to make the 53-man roster out of the preseason<\/a>, he’s ready to attack training camp with the same drive he had a year ago. This time, he wants to stay healthy to better his chances.<\/p>\n

“My goals for this year are just to be 100% healthy, 100% ready to go and just dive head-first now that I kind of have seen where I need to be, what I need to do, and have an idea of my role on the team,” Larison said. “And just to embrace that and kind of let loose a little bit, not worry about just being a rookie, not worry about anything like that. Just going going full steam ahead and give it my best and show what I can do.”<\/p>\n

Make sure you bookmark New England Patriots on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns, and so much more!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last summer, the New England Patriots ran up the score in the preseason opener against the Washington Commanders.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2069],"tags":[427,7,6,855,111,2480],"class_list":{"0":"post-858766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-washington-commanders","8":"tag-commanders","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-washington","12":"tag-washington-commanders","13":"tag-washingtoncommanders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116363178093959780","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858766","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=858766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}