Patriots practice squad elevations: Mike Brown and Jeremiah Pharms Jr. up for Week 3
New England elevated a safety and a defensive tackle for Sunday at Jacksonville, after losing three starters to injured reserve in four days. Plus how elevations work.
Two defenders up for Sunday
The bottom line: The Patriots announced the elevations Saturday afternoon, the team said. It is the first elevation of the season for each, 98.5 The Sports Hub reported, and both revert to the practice squad after the road trip, per Pats Pulpit.
Mike Brown, safety, 26. A 6-foot-1, 218-pound Miami of Ohio product who entered the league as a rookie free agent with Minnesota in 2022 and spent that season on the Green Bay, Minnesota and Cleveland practice squads. Cleveland elevated him for three games. Tennessee signed him to its 53-man roster on Jan. 1, 2023, and he spent the next three seasons there as a key reserve and special teams player. Tennessee is Mike Vrabel’s former team; Vrabel coached the Titans before taking the New England job. He has 38 career games with five starts, 45 total tackles, two passes defensed and 15 special teams tackles. An injury limited him to nine games last season. New England signed him in March, released him Aug. 30 and re-signed him to the practice squad the next day.
Jeremiah Pharms Jr., defensive tackle, 29. A 6-foot-2, 300-pounder who joined New England on July 19, 2022, after playing for the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL. He spent all of 2022 on the practice squad, began 2023 there and was signed to the 53-man roster during that season, and moved between the roster and the practice squad again in 2025. He has 31 career games with five starts, 45 total tackles and two sacks. He played college football at Friends University.
Why the defense needed them
The bottom line: New England goes to Jacksonville down four defenders: two on injured reserve, Dre’Mont Jones ruled out and starting safety Craig Woodson questionable.
- Safety Dell Pettus was placed on injured reserve on Sept. 23 with an ankle injury, and rookie linebacker Quintayvious Hutchins followed on Sept. 25 with a knee injury, according to the team’s transaction log.
- Friday’s official report ruled out Dre’Mont Jones with a shoulder injury alongside Hutchins, and listed safety Craig Woodson and tight end Eli Raridon as questionable, the Boston Herald reported.
- Woodson traveled to Jacksonville with the team on Saturday, 98.5 The Sports Hub reported, citing a post from Patriots.com’s Evan Lazar.
- Guard Mike Onwenu went on injured reserve on Sept. 22, making three New England starters placed there inside four days.
That is the context for elevating a safety and an interior defensive lineman rather than, say, a receiver: both slots are where the losses are.
How a practice squad elevation works
The bottom line: An elevation is a one-game loan from the practice squad that costs the team nothing on its 53-man roster.
- Teams can elevate practice squad players to the game day roster without releasing anyone from the 53, Pats Pulpit’s explainer notes. The roster effectively runs to 55 for the day, and the game day active list expands from 46 to 47, or 48 for a team dressing eight offensive linemen.
- An elevated player reverts to the practice squad automatically after the game.
- A team can use the method on the same player no more than three times in a season. Beyond that, keeping him available means a standard promotion: signing him to the 53-man roster in place of someone else, and exposing him to waivers to send him back down.
- Teams may carry up to 16 practice squad players on top of the 53.
Sunday is the first of Brown’s and Pharms’ three for the season.
Our take
Look at who they reached for. Brown is 26 with 38 games behind him and three seasons as a reserve and special teamer in Tennessee, the club Vrabel used to coach. Pharms is 29 and has been in and out of this building since 2022. Neither one is a developmental flier.
With Pettus and Hutchins on injured reserve, Dre’Mont Jones out and Woodson questionable, New England needed guys who already know the calls. Both are reliable if unspectacular veterans who can hold things together until the starters are back.