Patriots LB Jonathan Freeny Won’t Return From Injured Reserve This Year

Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald reports that Patriots LB Jonathan Freeny won’t be healthy enough to return from injured reserve this season.

This comes just a few hours after the Patriots traded LB Jamie Collins to the Browns for a conditional third-round pick, so it appears as though the team will look to their other linebackers fill the void left by Collins.

Freeny, 27, originally signed on with the Dolphins as an undrafted free agent out of Rutgers back in 2011. He spent four years in Miami before signing on with the Patriots as an unrestricted free agent in May of last year.

The Patriots elected to bring Freeney back on a one-year extension last year. He was set to make a base salary of $1 million for the 2016 season when the Patriots signed him to a two-year contract extension coming out of the preason.

In 2015, Freeny appeared in 13 games for the Patriots and recorded 50 tackles, one sack, a forced fumble, two recoveries and a pass defense.