New England Patriots sign Tracy Robertson to practice squad

The New England Patriots practice squad now has seven members after the team signed defensive tackle Tracy Robertson yesterday. He joins fellow DT Marcus Forston as the only other defensive lineman on the practice squad. Linebacker Jeff Tarpinian, wide receiver Jeremy Ebert, fullback James Develin, safety Cyhl Quarles, and offensive lineman Colin Miller are the other five members of the Patriots practice squad.

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Robertson is an undrafted rookie from the Baylor Bears, but he has already been shifted around quite a bit ever since signing a deal with the Houston Texans after the draft. After being dropped by the Texans, the Detroit Lions picked him up and brought him in for training camp. The 6’4″, 275 pound defensive tackle (I’ve also seen him listed at 280) was released by the Lions during the roster crunchdown in August.

He was a decent player for Baylor in college, but you have to look at his senior season in order to get a better idea of some of how disruptive he was for Big 12 interior offensive linemen. Robertson recorded 23 tackles and 4.5 sacks, and he had an additional two tackles for loss as a main cog in Baylor’s defense. Robertson is mostly a “potential” guy, and there isn’t much on him.

The Patriots must be seeing something they really like in Robertson, so we’ll see how they develop him on the p-squad and how long he stays. Robertson fills up one of two openings left after the promotions of wide receiver Kamar Aiken and defensive back Malcolm Williams leading up to the Week 17 game against the Miami Dolphins.

As you can tell by the size listing, Robertson is also knocked down for being more of a sub-package player due to his low weight. I mean, look at the picture, he doesn’t look like your average DT.  He can’t hold up as a three-down starter at all, but he also won’t be a starter and doesn’t have that ability (at least, for now says the optimist).

However, Bill Belichick loves his sub-package guys and could feasibly turn Robertson into a decent interior rusher in the rotation. He’s a smaller guy (size, not height) whose going to be given a chance to provide some rush at DT next season, so it’s an interesting signing.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.