In an unfortunate way to start a career, New England Patriots top draft choice Derek Rivers has suffered a knee injury that will most likely end his rookie campaign.
Adam Schefter tweeted this morning “Patriots fear DE Derek Rivers, their top draft choice this year, has suffered a season-ending knee injury,” per @FieldYates and @MikeReiss.
This injury is an unfortunate blow to a player that had all the stars aligned for him to replace recently retired Rob Ninkovich.
Now with Rivers most likely out of the lineup, the Patriots will probably look to acquired defensive end Kony Ealy to take his place on the edge. Another possibility would be to have Hightower take on more of the rushing duties with veteran David Harris getting more of a workload at middle linebacker.
The Patriots are gearing up for their second preseason match up against the Houston Texans on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.
