SANTA CLARA, Calif. — In the final seconds of the AFC Championship Game, with snow falling from the sky like confetti celebrating a Patriots Super Bowl berth, defensive tackle Cory Durden hugged head coach Mike Vrabel and kept repeating, “you changed my life.”
Durden isn’t the only Patriots player whose fate changed this season.
The Super Bowl LX-bound Patriots rescued four players from losing seasons with key signings and waiver claims. Durden is just the prime example. Cut from a Giants team that finished the 2025 season with a 4-13 record out of training camp, Durden signed with the Patriots’ practice squad and was almost immediately promoted to a 53-man roster spot. He went on to start four games and is a regular contributor as a run-stuffer and early-down pass rusher. Now he’s preparing for his first career Super Bowl, knowing things could have gone much differently if he hadn’t been cut by the Giants.
“It feels great. Obviously, I think two things. I think it says a lot about (the Giants’) front office, but I also think it’s a great feeling being able to play,” Durden said. “They saw the type of player I was. I was the same player there that I am here now. So it’s a good feeling to play for a team that’s actually playing meaningful football in February. We’re still playing in February, one of the two teams left.”
Vrabel took his own little shot at the Giants after the Patriots’ 33-15 Week 13 game, remarking, “They let him go. … They told him he wasn’t good enough to play for the Giants, and we thought he was good enough to play for the Patriots.”
The Patriots claimed quarterback Tommy DeVito off waivers from the Giants one day before they signed Durden to their practice squad. DeVito was also saved from a 4-13 season and spent the whole year as the Patriots’ emergency third quarterback.
“As soon as I found out that I was claimed, I was looking at the schedule, December 1, circled it,” DeVito said about the Patriots’ Week 13 win over the Giants. “And then it’s a little weird seeing a lot of my dawgs out there, but it was — I’m a Patriot, and I was happy we got the win.”
Offensive tackle Thayer Munford Jr., who has found a key role as a jumbo tight end in the Patriots offense, was saved twice. Munford was cut by the Raiders, who went 3-14 this season, and signed to the Patriots’ practice squad. He was then signed off the Patriots’ practice squad by the Browns, who went 5-12, got cut and re-signed to the Browns’ practice squad. The Patriots swooped in and signed him off the Browns’ practice squad in late November.
“It’s a blessing,” Munford said. “I think of it as like, it’s like a diamond in the rough, kind of like. Even though you can’t really find what’s going on, but you see it, but you really can’t find it. But I’m so happy and grateful to be here.”
If the Patriots didn’t sign defensive tackle Leonard Taylor III to their practice squad after he was cut from the Jets’ 53-man roster in mid-October, their own fortunes might have changed this season.
Taylor blocked a 45-yard field goal attempt from Broncos kicker Will Lutz with 4:46 left in the AFC Championship Game. It was the sixth game Taylor had been elevated from the Patriots’ practice squad this season. It would be shocking if he’s not up for his seventh game on Sunday in Super Bowl LX.
“It’s an amazing feeling, just coming in, being able to contribute to this team, because when I was at the Jets, it was like, we’re going into the week trying to figure out how we’re going to beat the next team, the next opponent we went against. So it’s just really life changing to be able to come and get a new opportunity here and also contribute to it,” Taylor said.
Taylor feels like the Patriots got a better version of himself.
He played 14 games as an undrafted rookie with the Jets in 2024 but fell out of favor with a new Jets defensive staff this season.
“I came in here with the mindset I had to change something,” Taylor said. “So I just looked at the game a way different way from being cut. So, I had to come in here and change something. And they gave me the opportunity to see all the hard work I’ve been putting in, and then it’s been just displaying on the field.”
Taylor said he took film study more seriously and put in more time with his coaches.
“When I’m out there playing, I’m not second-guessing myself,” Taylor said. “So I really just put in the time, for real, putting in the hours to be the dominant player I could be.”
Durden, DeVito, Munford and Taylor are unique because they left losing situations and joined the Patriots this season. But only six players on the Patriots’ 53-man roster experienced winning seasons last year. The 23 players remaining from last year’s Patriots squad obviously experienced a 4-13 campaign. Overall, current Patriots veteran players went 220-460 last season for a .324 winning percentage.
