The New England Patriots will now have a vacant spot on their practice squad to fill in the coming days, as they had a special teams contributor poached by the New York Jets. Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reported on Tuesday that the Jets are signing linebacker Mark Robinson off the Pats’ practice squad.

It’s not shocking to see teams steal practice-squad guys off another team’s roster, especially if said player has been elevated from the taxi squad three times.

This was the case for the 26-year-old Robinson, who was re-assigned to the practice squad on Monday after his third elevation. For the core special teamer to appear in a fourth game, New England would’ve had to sign him to the active roster, which the Pats had an open spot.

However, the Jets beat New England to the punch, and now the Pats will have to find someone else to fill in that core-4 special teams unit.

Patriots Lose LB Mark Robinson to New York Jets Ahead of Week 4

The former Pittsburgh Steelers’ 2022 seventh-round pick was one of the four players he served who played in all four special teams units in Week 3 (kickoff coverage, punt coverage, punt return, and kickoff return), per ESPN’s Mike Reiss.

Reiss adds Robinson took the place of veteran linebacker Christian Elliss on kickoff returns. The 5-foot-11, 235-pound linebacker played 37 special teams and had three combined tackles in the Patriots’ three games.

Robinson joined the Patriots’ practice squad at the end of the preseason after getting released by the Steelers. The young linebacker was a core special teamer in his three-year tenure in the Steel City.

Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see who New England signs to the practice squad to fill that special teams void. Through the first three weeks of the season, the punt coverage unit has not been great.

The Pats are allowing opponents to average 35.3 yards per return, which is the worst mark in the NFL by a large margin. Now, that number is inflated as New England allowed a 74-yard punt return touchdown to Miami Dolphins WR Malik Washington in Week 2.

As for their kick return coverage, the Patriots are much better in that department, only allowing 25.1 yards per kick return. We’ll see if New England hosts any tryouts in the coming days for their practice squad opening.