The Patriots may have lost a key young player, who was impressing in his early work.
According to Field Yates and Mike Reiss of ESPN, the Patriots fear that rookie defensive end Derek Rivers suffered a season-ending knee injury.
The third-rounder from Youngstown State, who was their highest draft pick this year, was injured during joint practices with the Texans Wednesday, and was sent home for more tests.
Apparently those tests were not favorable.
He had 41 sacks during his college career, and was expected to have a role on a defense looking for some contributors after Rob Ninkovich’s retirement.