Patriots will activate rookie LB Gabe Jacas on Saturday

It took a while to get his contract finished. It took even longer to get him on the practice field, thanks to placement on the non-football injury list.

On Saturday, rookie second-round linebacker Gabe Jacas will make his debut with the Patriots.

“We’ll have Gabe back today,” coach Mike Vrabel told reporters on Saturday. “We’ll get Gabe back today. Get that out on social [media] here, guys. . . . He’ll be out there in a limited role. We’ve talked to you about the return to play protocol that we have, and so now he gets handed over to the coaches, and that’ll be in a limited role. He won’t be involved in the team reps, but hopefully Monday, we’ll see him back out there.”

It’s clear that Jacas has been wanting to get to work.

“He loves football,” Vrabel said. “He’s been itching to get back. He texts me all the time. He texts me late at night, ‘Hey, am I going to practice tomorrow?’ I’m like, ‘No, just like I told you at 6:30 last night or tonight that you’re not going to practice tomorrow. You don’t have to text me at 10:00 and ask again. The answer is still no, not yet.’ You want that. You want guys that are looking for ways in as opposed to looking for ways out. I think he just wants to get out there, get acclimated and be with his teammates. That is all he wants to do. He just wants to play football.”

He’ll now get to do it, even if the path was a strange one — punctuated by an unusual injury waiver that exempts his left knee from guarantees in 2027 and 2028.