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          NFL Nation

          Mike Gillislee's hopes to land on game-day roster tied to injury report

          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterNov 18, 2017, 04:00 PM
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              Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
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          COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Every Saturday, hot topics around the New England Patriots are explored in a mailbag.

          Landon, we already know four of the Patriots' inactive players for Sunday's game against the Oakland Raiders in Mexico City: center David Andrews (illness), offensive tackle Marcus Cannon (ankle), and wide receivers Chris Hogan (shoulder) and Matthew Slater (hamstring). So that leaves just three more players to deactivate, and a big part will be the health of tight end Martellus Bennett (shoulder/hamstring), cornerback Eric Rowe (groin), defensive end Cassius Marsh (shoulder) and defensive tackle Malcom Brown (ankle). If none of those four players are ready, Mike Gillislee sneaks on. But if two of them are cleared for action, it looks to me as though Gillislee -- who is No. 4 on the depth chart behind Dion Lewis, Rex Burkhead and James White and doesn't contribute in a front-line role on special teams -- would once again be a top candidate to be inactive.

          Tony, the reason they favored Burkhead in the Denver game is that they were running more two-back groupings and wanted more of a true combination running back -- part rusher, part pass-catcher. When White's snap count rises, it usually is when the Patriots are running more three-wide packages, playing up-tempo and spreading things out with more of a pass-first approach. It's probably fair to say he's less of a running threat than Burkhead, although still effective on draws.

          Hi Marcus, Burkhead's playing time is rising in each of the past three games: 13, 27 and 36 snaps. There are no indications those numbers will decline sharply as he and Lewis are currently the top two running backs alongside White. While the playing time will often fluctuate based on that week's specific game plan, Burkhead should still see a considerable total of snaps.

          That's an excellent question about the quarterback-center exchange with the Patriots not having Andrews for Sunday's game. I asked Ted Karras, the projected replacement, about that Friday, and this was his response: "I'm still working on the little nuances, but definitely for each quarterback we've had, you spend time maybe pre-practice a couple days [with them], how they like it and their cadence and how they want the ball delivered to them."

          Alex, when Marsh was at the stadium early last Sunday in Denver with the practice-squad players and other rehabilitating players (e.g. Rowe), it was a strong indication that the shoulder injury was the reason for his inactive status. If it was strictly for performance, I don't think he would have been part of that group.

          Receiver Malcolm Mitchell was described to me as "week to week" recently and has also been more visible during the media-access period in the locker room. The hope when he was placed on injured reserve was that he would return at some point this season. That still remains a possibility, but it will come down to whether he can beat the clock.

          Toby, as you point out, the Patriots will have four offensive tackles under contract for 2018: Cannon, Tony Garcia, Cole Croston and Andrew Jelks. They will have free-agent decisions to make on Nate Solder, LaAdrian Waddle and Cameron Fleming. I would think they have a general range in mind for each player and will be prepared to move on if another team trumps it. They obviously think highly of Garcia after trading up for him in the third round, so his development will be important.