cstjohn17

Miguel or others, I am building a spreadsheet that documents my annual fruitless attempt to guess the Patriots 53 man roster.

Question - I was wondering if anyone has details on the number of players per position the Patriots have had on their opening roster for the past 5 years. This helps me determine where key battles or "competition" will occur.

Initial pass for 2006 and comments
25 - Offense - WR - 5, OL - 9, QB - 3, RB - 5, TE - 3
25 - Defense - LB - 9, DL - 6, CB - 5, S - 5
3 - Special Teams = P -1, PK - 1, LS - 1

Comments versus 2005 team
- stronger overall offense and better special teams coverage
- pass coverage is weak, LB, S and CBs are adequate in coverage
- WR is thin
- Punt returner is a question mark

LWR Branch, BROWN, Childress
RWR Caldwell, Jackson
LT Light, Kaczur
LG Mankins, Tucker
C Koppen, Hochstein
RG Neal
RT Gorin, Callaghan
TE Watson, Graham, Thomas
QB Brady, Cassel, XXXXXXX
FB Pass, Mills
RB DILLON, Faulk, Maroney
LDE Warren, Hill
NT Wilfork, Sulllivan
RDE Seymour, Green
LOLB Colvin, Banta-Cain
LILB BRUSCHI, IZZO
RILB Beisel, Claridge, Alexander
ROLB VRABEL, Mincey
LCB Samuel, Warfield, Hawkins
SS Jones, Mitchel
FS Wilson, Sanders, Andrews
RCB Hobbs,Gay
P MILLER
PK Gostkowski
LS Paxton

PUP
SS Harrison, Rodney


Practice
OG Dan Stevenson
DT Smith, LeKevin
LB Roach, Freddie
S Ventrone Raymond

Cuts
LB Davis, Don
DE Klecko, Dan
S Scott, Guss
FB Evans, Health
CB Scott, Chad

bucky

Here's my advice. Don't worry about the numbers from pervious years because there are no patterns.

First, try to figure out who the 45 actives would be - that means figuring out the starters on special teams. The actives are typically made up of: 2 QBs, 3 specialists (K, P, LS), 7 OL and 5 DL. That makes 17. The other 28 (WR, RB, TE, DB, LB) also make up the special teams units.

Next, figure out the final 8 - 1 or 2 additional OL (probably 2), 1 or 2 additional DL (probably 2), any rookies picked in the top 5 or 6 rounds who won't be making the active day roster, and whatever positions seem to need depth and have a lot of bodies in camp.

One of the things that makes it so hard to predict is BB's secrecy with regard to injuries. Those have a major impact on the final roster, but we have no idea how serious most injuries are.

14thDragon

I don't know, but I would bet that Wright would beat out Hill or Sullivan.

pats1

(These numbers don't include any PUP/IR players that were on their respective reserve lists for the first game, even if they came off the PUP later in the season)

2005:

QBs - 3
RBs - 3 (Dillon, Faulk, Pass)
WRs - 6
TEs - 3
OTs - 4
OG/Cs - 4

DEs - 4
NTs - 3
OLBs - 6 (Vrabel, McGinest, Colvin, Banta-Cain, Chatham, Mallard)
ILBs - 4 (Beisel, Brown, Izzo, Davis)
CBs - 6
Ss - 4
K - 1
P - 1
LS - 1

2004:

QBs - 3
RBs - 4 (Dillon, Faulk, Pass - Abdullah signed when Cobbs went to PUP)
WRs - 6
TEs - 3
OTs - 4
OG/Cs - 5

DEs - 4
NTs - 4
OLBs - 4 (Vrabel, McGinest, Colvin, Banta-Cain)
ILBs - 5 (Bruschi, Johnson, Phifer, Izzo, Davis)
CBs - 4
Ss - 4
K- 1
P - 1
LS - 1

2003:

QBs - 3
RBs - 4 (Smith, Faulk, McCrary, Centers - Cloud was suspended until Week 5)
WRs - 5
TEs - 3
OTs - 4
OG/Cs - 4

DEs - 5
NTs - 3
OLBs - 4 (Vrabel, McGinest, Colvin, Chatham)
ILBs - 5 (Bruschi, Johnson, Phifer, Izzo, Davis)
CBs - 3 (Law, Poole, Samuel)
Ss - 6 (Harrison, Wilson, A. Harris, Cherry, Akins, Aric Morris)
K - 1
P - 1
LS - 1

2002:

QBs - 3
RBs - 5 (Smith, Faulk, Redmond, Edwards, Pass)
WRs - 5
TEs - 3
OTs - 5
OG/Cs - 5

DEs - 4
DTs - 4
OLBs - 4 (Vrabel, Phifer, Chatham, Brigance - cut in Week 2, CB Hitchc-o-c-k added)
ILBs - 3 (Bruschi, Johnson, Izzo)
CBs - 4 (Law, O. Smith, Buckley, Ben Kelly - Myers was on PUP)
Ss - 5 (Milloy, Jones, Green, Cherry, A. Harris)
K - 1
P - 1
LS - 1

patpatriot

Hard to see how Mincy (Long term conversion project) and Alexander (has had 2 chances already) make this team while a 2nd round draft choice (Hill) who as a role (goal line defence) doesn't. And what does Bam Morris bring to the table that you can't get out of Mils?

pats1

CTSjohn17 - there are 8 spots on the practice squad, not 4.

cstjohn17

All fair comments...
- Mincey and Alexander speak to the general lack of depth at the LB positions. You can replace their names with Roach, Gardner, Davis or any other of the 4th stringers they have.In my opinion we still don't have a pure run stuffing LB (Ted Johnson) or pass covering LB (Roman Phifer), if any of the top 3 (Vrabel, Bruschi, Colvin) go down it will not be pretty
- Hill is listed as a reserve DE (although in my opinion he hasn't shown anything, because he is a 2nd round pick he sticks around)
- Mills versus Childresss - Childress is a wide receiver and possible return specialist, Mills is a hybrid fullback, TE, not really filling the same role. In a perfect world we find someone to fill the 5th receiver spot
- practice squad - 4 spots out of 8, give me time I will fill all 8, the practice sqaud is largely irrelevant as the Patriots prefer to find people at car washes to fill needs (Hank Poteat, Hawkins, etc.)

Thank you for the feedback. Keep it coming.

P.s. great job with the year by year roster breakdown.

5 Rings for Brady!!

I did this exercise for a couple of years and was almost 100% accurate, but not because I know anything at all. I simply took my favorite players and pencilled them in, and all the spots were filled. This is not going to happen this year, I believe! I don't have a clue, to be honest, who makes the team at back-up linebacker, secondary, or perhaps even D-line if Sullivan shows up for work. I mean, pick between Sullivan, Hill, Wright and Klecko...
Wide reciever may be too easy, with no depth. Tight end and running back could have a couple surprise cuts, like Pass or Mills, even Faulk fumbled his way through an injured season last year. Back-up O-Line may be tough as well, Gene Mckrowski, Gorin, the rookies, some of the practice squad projects.

I'm not even gonna push my luck and try this year!