Patriots add veteran RB Hassan Haskins ahead of preseason opener, waive a rookie

The New England Patriots made a backfield move ahead of their preseason opener, adding veteran running back Hassan Haskins and waiving a rookie as part of a quick roster shuffle. The team’s decision came just before its first scheduled look of the summer, a time when teams often use practice reps and final cuts to set the pecking order for early carries.

Haskins arrives in Foxborough as a player with NFL experience. The report characterizes him as a veteran of 44 NFL games, positioning him as a more established option than the younger backs vying for depth roles. In the preseason, that experience matters for pass protection reads, blitz recognition, and handling the timing of limited-play packages where teams still try to evaluate multiple personnel groups.

New England’s move also reflected the roster math involved in getting through the preseason slate. The Patriots waived a rookie in conjunction with Haskins’ arrival, indicating that this wasn’t simply an additional body in camp. It was a targeted change intended to affect the rotation of ball-carriers and, at minimum, the competition for back-of-the-depth-chart snaps.

For fans, the most immediate question is what Haskins’ presence changes in the Patriots’ running-back hierarchy during the early parts of the preseason. Veterans can earn trust quickly, but these weeks are still about evaluation, with coaching staffs weighing every player on fundamentals and reliability rather than just highlight production.

The preseason opener will also serve as the first public test of this backfield adjustment. It will show how New England plans to distribute carries and snaps among the group, including whether Haskins is deployed primarily as a short-yardage option, a change-of-pace runner, or a protection-focused back in passing situations.

Because the publicly available details here are limited, it is not clear how the Patriots intended to align Haskins with specific game-plan roles or how the waived rookie fits into the team’s longer-term plans. Further clarity will come as New England releases updated practice and game-day rosters, along with how the coaches describe the backfield rotation after the first preseason games.