FOXBOROUGH — For the second straight week the Patriots have lost a player for the season with a knee injury as a league source confirmed Friday that Cyrus Jones suffered a torn ACL and partially torn meniscus Thursday night.
The second-year cornerback and the team’s No. 1 option at punt returner had good coverage on Giants receiver Travis Rudolph on a deep sideline route when his right knee buckled and he grabbed for it before falling to the turf. He was helped to the sideline and briefly stayed at the medical tent before heading to the locker room.
Jones, a second-round pick out of Alabama, had an MRI on Friday morning that confirmed the tears. He will be placed on injured reserve and miss the season.
The injury comes a week after Julian Edelman, New England’s leading receiver and punt returner, tore his ACL against the Lions in Detroit.
Additionally, it’s feared that defensive end Derek Rivers, the team’s top pick in April, suffered an ACL injury during a practice with the Texans two weeks ago at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.
The Patriots lost another corner later Friday when a league source confirmed they sent Justin Coleman to the Seahawks for a seventh-round pick in next year’s draft. In effect, this replaces the seventh-rounder they sent to the Bengals for linebacker Marquis Flowers earlier this week.
Coleman had been with the club since 2015, when it signed the undrafted rookie off the Seattle practice squad. He played in 20 games with three starts in his two seasons in New England, totaling 29 tackles and eight passes defended.
Jones, who was probably fifth on the team’s depth chart at corner, had performed well as a punt returner this summer after struggling in the role last season, fumbling five times on either punt or kickoff returns. He showed marked improvement in the preseason (seven returns for 71 yards) and until Thursday night had been the only player to field a punt for the Patriots in exhibition play.
“I thought Cyrus did a good job in the return game, both punts and kickoffs,’’ coach Bill Belichick said the day after Jones had 58 punt return yards and 17 kickoff return yards against the Texans. “He ran hard, ran aggressively, made good decisions, with and without the ball. We had a couple situations where the ball hit the ground or was going out of bounds. I thought he did a nice job.’’
Rookie Will Likely, an experienced punt returner in college, handled two fourth-quarter returns against the Giants totaling 7 yards.
The Patriots do have options on the roster, including Danny Amendola, who has 147 career punt returns. The veteran has been injured on punt returns each of the last two seasons, however, and the Patriots may want to protect him, given his expected bump in offensive snaps with Edelman out.
Same goes for receiver Brandin Cooks (13 career punt returns) and safety Patrick Chung (2).
With teams having to get down to 53 players by Saturday at 4 p.m., there will also be options outside the organization. One player to keep in mind is Griff Whalen, a slot receiver/return man who spent a week with the Patriots last season. He was released by the Ravens.
On a conference call Friday, Belichick said he wouldn’t rule out reserving a roster spot for a player whose sole responsibility is returning kicks and punts.
“I’d say the ball handling is critical. I mean, it’s like the long snapper. How many plays is the long snapper in for a game? I mean, I’d call it 10. I don’t know, somewhere in that neighborhood, eight to 10 — field goals, punts and extra points. But, everybody carries a long snapper.
“Between kick returns and the punt returns, [a returner plays] maybe a couple less than that, but I’d say the difficulty of those jobs and the importance of them and quick ball handling — I mean, there’s not much that will lose the game quicker than that. So, I think it’s a high priority for [every] team. It certainly is for us. So, we’ll have to see how it turns out, but it’s not an afterthought at all. It’s a priority item.’’
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globejimmcbride.
