FOXBOROUGH, Mass. â The New England Patriots announced that WR Mack Hollins has been activated to the 53-man roster from injured reserve. Hollins was placed on injured reserve on Dec. 27 after seeing action in the first 15 games of the season.
In addition, the Patriots placed DT Eric Gregory on injured reserve and elevated RB D'Ernest Johnson and DE Leonard Taylor III to the active roster from the practice squad for the second straight week. Also, WR Trent Sherfield Sr. was released from the practice squad.
Johnson, 29, spent time on the practice squad and the 53-man roster during the regular season, seeing action in seven games and accumulating 13 rushing attempts for 25 yards and 5 kickoff returns for 128 yards. He saw action in the Wild Card game against the L.A. Chargers (1/11) before being released on Jan. 12 and then signed to the practice squad on Jan. 13. Johnson is in his seventh NFL season after spending time with the Cleveland Browns (2019-22), Jacksonville Jaguars (2023-24), Baltimore Ravens (2025) and the Arizona Cardinals (2025). The 5-foot-11, 205-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Cleveland out of South Florida in 2019 and played with the Browns through the 2022 season. He signed with Jacksonville as an unrestricted free agent in 2023 and then with the Baltimore Ravens in 2025. Johnson spent time on the Ravens and Cardinals practice squads earlier this season.
Taylor, 23, was elevated for three games during the regular season and for the first two postseason games. He finished with 9 total tackles in the regular season and played as a reserve in the postseason games but did not register any tackles. Taylor was signed by New England to the practice squad on Oct. 16, 2025. He originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with the New York Jets out of Miami (Fla.) in 2024. The 6-foot-3, 305-pounder, has played in 19 NFL games and has 35 total tackles, 1œ sacks and 2 passes defensed. He was released by the Jets on Oct. 14, 2025, after seeing action in two games in 2025.
Sherfield, 29, is in his eighth NFL season after spending time with Arizona (2018-20, 2025), San Francisco (2021), Miami (2022), Buffalo (2023), Minnesota (2024) and Denver (2025). The 6-foot, 203-pounder, originally entered the NFL as a rookie free agent with Arizona out of Vanderbilt in 2018. Sherfield has played in 124 NFL games with 14 starts and has 89 receptions for 1,034 yards and 6 touchdowns. Sherfield signed with Denver as an unrestricted free agent from Minnesota this past offseason, and he played in 10 games with three starts for the Broncos and caught 3 passes for 21 yards. He was released by Denver on Nov. 15 and then was signed by Arizona to the practice squad on Dec. 6. Sherfield was elevated to the active roster and played in two games for the Cardinals in 2025. He was signed by New England to the practice squad on Jan. 13.
