When the Chargers take the field at Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Philip Rivers is going to have a new weapon in his receiving arsenal: Tight end Hunter Henry. 

After missing the entire 2018 regular season due to a torn ACL, Henry is expected to make his return to the field this week when Los Angeles faces the Patriots. The Chargers officially added Henry to the active roster on Monday, which means their star tight end is now eligible to play against New England in the divisional round. 

Henry was placed on the physically unable to perform list earlier this year after tearing his ACL during the Chargers' first OTA back in May. At the time, the team wasn't expecting him to play in 2018, but they did hold out hope that he would be able to return if they made a deep playoff run, and that's exactly what's happening right now, thanks to the Chargers' 23-17 win over the Ravens in the wild-card round. 

Although Henry practiced in the lead up to the Ravens game, the team decided to keep him on the inactive list because they didn't think he was quite ready to take the field. The Chargers had until Monday to decide if they wanted to add him to the active roster for the rest of the postseason. 

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The addition of Henry to the Chargers offense is big news for Rivers and that's because the tight end has been one of his favorite weapons over the past two years. During Henry's rookie year in 2016, the second-round pick caught eight touchdown passes, which was tied for the most in the NFL by any tight end. In 2017, Henry finished the season with 45 catches for 579 yards and four touchdowns. Henry's reception total ranked second on the team behind only Keenan Allen. 

Although Henry will be on the field, he likely won't play the entire game. Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said last week that his tight end would likely be on some sort of pitch count whenever he ends up making his season debut. To make room on the roster for Henry, the Chargers placed linebacker Jatavis Brown (ankle) on injured reserve.