The Patriots are hoping to make it three-straight wins when they head to New Orleans to face the Saints on Sunday, and they'll do so with some notable injuries to monitor this weekend.

On Friday, New England ruled out DE Keion White (elbow), LB Anfernee Jennings (ankle), S Jaylinn Hawkins (hamstring), and RB Antonio Gibson (knee). The Patriots are also listing CB Christian Gonzalez (hamstring), LB Marte Mapu (neck/hamstring), and CB Charles Woods (knee) as questionable for Sunday's game vs. the Saints.

Starting with their top cornerback, Gonzalez popped up on the injury report again on Thursday with his hamstring injury. Gonzalez was a limited participant in the final two practices and is officially listed as questionable for Week 6. Although he's back on the injury report, Gonzalez's practice participation is a part of a pre-determined plan between the training staff, head coach Mike Vrabel, and Gonzalez, according to the Patriots coaches.

"He's on a plan with [Vrabel] and [director of sports performance] Frank [Piraino] with [head athletic trainer] Jim [Whalen] in the training room," cornerbacks coach Justin Hamilton said. "It's kind of a warm-up, the early portion of practice. Just to do more because some of the stuff is special teams or different things where it's a jog-through, walk-through. It's for him to just be able to get to the pace that he can go at to be able to get out there when we are in the speed periods of practice."

For added context, the Patriots typically begin practice with dynamic stretching and then a jog-through period with the main focus on special teams. As two players without roles on special teams, Gonzalez and starting CB Carlton Davis usually spend the special teams period catching passes off the jugs machine. From this perspective, having Gonzalez stay loose on the side field rather than doing more stagnant work could be a way to keep his hamstring warm while he waits for team drills to start later in practice.

Although it's never ideal to see the star cornerback on the injury report, the good news is it sounds like a pre-determined plan to manage his hamstring injury during a long season. Elsewhere on the defense, safety and edge defender are the more pressing areas regarding injury designations.

Starting edge rusher K'Lavon Chaisson (knee) missed last week's win over the Bills and was a limited participant in practice this week. Then, Chaisson's top replacement, Keion White, injured his elbow during last Sunday night's game in Buffalo. To make matters more interesting, White's top replacement, veteran Anfernee Jennings, injured his ankle vs. the Bills. Now, Jennings and White won't play, while Chaisson is good to go.

This week, Chaisson was a limited participant in the first two practices ahead of a trip to the state where the 26-year-old played his college football at LSU. Ideally, Chaisson, who started the first four games opposite captain Harold Landry, will return to the game-day lineup on Sunday. In the first four weeks, Chaisson recorded 2.5 sacks and 13 total pressures primarily rushing over the left tackle.

Although the Patriots will get Chaisson back, New England needs options to back up Chaisson and Landry. The team could possibly turn to undrafted rookie Elijah Ponder or give more snaps to LB Jahlani Tavai on the edge. Ponder recorded a hurry in his 12 defensive snaps vs. the Bills, while he has also played on special teams in games where he's been active. Tavai returned to game action last week after being activated off injured reserve, playing five of his 13 snaps on the edge in Week 5.

According to OLBs coach Mike Smith, fifth-rounder Bradyn Swinson, who is currently on the Patriots practice squad, has made progress behind the scenes. Harvard grad Truman Jones is also a practice-squad elevation option. Typically, the Patriots have rolled with four active edge defenders. Their four this week could be Chaisson, Landry, Ponder, and Tavai. We'll see if Swinson or Jones has earned an elevation from the practice squad to pitch in at outside linebacker.

Next, starting safety Jaylinn Hawkins' hamstring injury will leave a void in the Patriots secondary. Hawkins is a versatile player in the backend for New England, mostly playing free safety but also contributing in the box as a downhill run defender and blitzer. Hawkins has played 90 percent of the defensive snaps this season.

Without Hawkins, S Kyle Dugger will likely have a larger role. Dugger only played one defensive snap vs. the Bills but played a season-high 35 snaps vs. the Panthers in Week 4. The veteran safety was carving out a role as a third safety in "big" nickel packages. Last week, the Pats didn't use that package, playing more base defense and standard three-corner nickel groupings against the Bills, which is why Dugger didn't play much. As a full-time contributor for most of his career, Dugger has the experience to step into a larger role, but his fit in the Patriots new defensive scheme has been a question mark since training camp.

Moving over to the offense, New England suffered its first significant loss on offense when RB Antonio Gibson sustained a major knee injury returning a kickoff last Sunday night. According to reports, Gibson will miss the rest of the season.

Gibson's injury impacts the Patriots in two key areas. First, the veteran running back was a useful role player on offense, playing 16.6% of the snaps as a spell-back to lead-back Rhamondre Stevenson. Gibson was also in some two-back "pony" packages where his speed was a factor, like when he took a jet sweep for a 21-yard gain in Week 4. Earlier this season, Gibson also earned special teams player of the week honors for his work as a kickoff returner, with his 90-yard touchdown return essentially winning the game vs. the Dolphins in Week 2.

Starting RB Rhamondre Stevenson and rookie TreVeyon Henderson will now have more on their plate, while the Patriots will need to add a third running back to the active roster as insurance. Most likely, practice-squad RB Terrell Jennings will be elevated for Sunday's game. Jennings is a power runner who can rush between the tackles.

As for kickoff returns, Stevenson took Gibson's spot alongside Henderson on kickoff return during the Bills game but having their two healthy running backs return kickoffs could be risky. On Thursday, special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer said the Patriots favor running back body types because they're built to take the physicality of returns. This season, the NFL has tweaked the kickoff return rules to move a touchback to the 35-yard line, which has led to a considerable uptick in the number of returns, increasing the importance of the play in today's game.

"You always like a bigger guy back there because they're taking hits now – a lot of hits – because they're covering every kick," Springer said this week. "At the same time, you can't miss out on guys with dynamic ability to be able to do what we want them to do."

On Friday, head coach Mike Vrabel was asked about how the Patriots will handle kickoff returns this week, and Vrabel didn't commit to a plan, pointing to Stevenson and "other skill players" as a possibility to return with Henderson.

As is the case for every team, the injury attrition on the roster is starting to impact the Patriots. With the team surging during a two-game winning streak, the next test for New England is taking care of business against seemingly inferior opponents, while showing they have the roster depth to withstand the inevitable injuries over the course of a long season.

On Saturday, the Patriots will travel to Louisiana for Sunday's 1 p.m. ET kickoff against the Saints. We'll keep you updated on any roster moves en route to New Orleans.

DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer