The New England Patriots got a bit of a lift on Thursday, with one notable name finally returning to practice ahead of Sunday’s showdown down in Miami.
Rookie defensive end Keion White returned to practice after sitting out Wednesday’s session, which marks his first time back at practice since suffering a concussion against the Raiders two weeks ago.
White was injured early in their Week 6 meeting in Las Vegas, with the rookie getting hurt midway through the Raiders opening offensive series. The play happened near the 10:15 mark of the first quarter, with White going in for the tackle against Raiders running back Josh Jacobs.
On the play, White lowered his helmet, and his head collided with teammate Kyle Dugger’s helmet, who had come in from the other side and was in with White on the tackle. Dugger popped up after the play, while White stayed down, with the rookie clearly suffering the worst of their collision.
After the play was over, White appeared to try and stand but fell back down, with teammate Lawrence Guy immediately coming to his aid before trainers came out to assist him.
White was clearly wobbly when he eventually tried to get to his feet, and it took a couple of minutes before he was finally able to steady himself enough to walk off the field.
He ultimately left the game and didn’t return. The former Georgia Tech standout hasn’t seen action since.
Fortunately, that changed on Thursday after he was present but limited during the session, and the fact he was out there was definitely a step in the right direction.
Prior to that, he had been seeing his role with the club increase in his first NFL season. Before their game in Las Vegas, White saw a significant jump in playing time against New Orleans, with the rookie having been in on 54% of the snaps in that outing, which at the time was his highest of the season.
If he’s able to go this weekend, his presence should certainly help them. White played in 30% of the snaps in their Week 2 meeting last month against the Dolphins, and while he didn’t register a tackle, the rookie was disruptive and had his moments.
Hopefully, he’ll have more of them again this weekend if he’s able to suit up and be out on the field Sunday.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
