Patriots star cornerback Christian Gonzalez is active and ready to go for New England's Week 6 game against the New Orleans Saints. Undrafted wide receiver Efton Chism III is also active for the first time and is set to make his NFL debut for New England. 

Gonzalez was listed as questionable on Friday's injury report after he was limited at practice on Thursday and Friday with a hamstring injury. New England's star cornerback missed the first three games of the regular season because of a hamstring injury he suffered on the first day of padded practice in training camp.

But he went through his usual pre-game routine and Gonzalez is ready to go for the Patriots on Sunday. Though he missed the first three games of the regular season, Gonzalez has looked like his usual All Pro self since returning from his hamstring injury. He knocked off some rust in Week 4 when he racked up three solo tackles while playing 71% of New England's defensive snaps (49) in a blowout win over the Carolina Panthers. Carolina quarterback Bryce Young didn't try to test Gonzalez that afternoon.

Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen mostly stayed away from Gonzalez last week during New England's 23-20 upset of the Bills. Gonzalez played all 61 defensive snaps for the Patriots and had three tackles to go with two big defensive breakups in the fourth quarter while he was covering Keon Coleman and Kalil Shakir. 

The New England secondary will not have starting safety Jaylinn Hawkins for Sunday's game, as he was ruled out Friday with a hamstring injury.  He is one of six players to be ruled out by New England for Sunday's game:

G Caedan Wallace
DT Eric Gregor
QB Tommy DeVito (third string, emergency QB)
S Jaylinn Hawkins
OLB Anfernee Jennings
DE Keion White

Defensive tackle Milton Williams, who was questionable Sunday morning because of an illness, is active for New England.

Efton Chism III active, to make NFL debut vs. Saints

We'll finally get our first look at Chism in a real NFL game. The undrafted receiver made New England's 53-man roster after an impressive training camp and preseason, where he caught 12 passes over two games. The 5-foot-10, 198-pound receiver turned a lot of heads in the Patriots' second preseason game when he shed a number of would-be tacklers on his way to the end zone for a first-half touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings.

He was inactive over the first five weeks, but Chism played well for New England's "show team" in practice. Now he'll get a chance to make some plays on the NFL stage, and could be featured as a kick returner in place of the injured Antonio Gibson.

Patriots promote Jennings, Jones from practice squad

The Patriots promoted two players from the practice squad on Saturday: Running back Terrell Jennings and defensive end Truman Jones.

Jennings will give the team some more depth out of the backfield after Gibson was placed on IR. He played three games for New England last season and picked up 33 rushing yards on his 13 carries.

Jones played the 2023 and 2024 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs after he went undrafted out of Harvard. He joined the Patriots at the end of last season, and has earned the praise of Mike Vrabel for his work on the practice squad this season. 

"I'm not supposed to have favorites, but I would say that Truman's close to the list if I had one," Vrabel said Friday. "He's an extremely hard worker. I would say that every time we have a show player of the week on the [defense] or special teams, I would say that he's probably been one of those two, if not both, throughout the year. He's done a nice job. He prepares as a starter each and every week. I just think he's continuing to develop, and we would be comfortable if we had to play him."