The New England Patriots are bringing back a familiar face.

Offensive tackle Marcus Cannon agreed to a deal to join New England's practice squad, ESPN's Field Yates reported Thursday. Cannon spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Patriots, who drafted him in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft.

After opting out of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cannon was traded from New England to Houston in 2021 for a pair of draft picks. Cannon started the first four games of the 2021 season for the Texans before getting placed on injured reserve and was later released in March.

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The Patriots' decision to bring back Cannon comes just three days ahead of their season-opening matchup against the Dolphins. Starting right tackle Isaiah Wynn's been limited in the Patriots' first two practices after missing some time during training camp and the preseason with a back injury. New England's only backup offensive tackles on the active roster are Yodny Cajuste and Justin Herron, who've started a combined 12 games in their NFL careers.

Cannon started 69 games at right tackle for the Patriots during his first stint and was quite effective. In 2016, Cannon earned a second-team All-Pro nod. His strength during his first time with the Patriots was as a run blocker, but he also graded well as a pass blocker at points, too (he had a 76.5 pass-blocking grade in 2018 first instance, per Pro Football Focus).

Now at 34, Cannon struggled a bit in the last two seasons he played in. In 2019, he gave up six sacks and 34 pressures. With the Texans last season, Cannon gave up a sack and five pressures in five games while earning a 66.6 overall grade by Pro Football Focus.