tombonneau

Reading a Reiss summary just now and two pieces stood out:

1. Shank was finally seen in an ankle wrap
2. Branch still has locker set up

Now I've independently seen some speculate Shank is on the squad now only to be IRd post Sep 4 and that Branch was cut to be re-signed after the season starts so his salary is not guaranteed.

It wasnt until reading this Reiss summary just now that I put together what could be a very astute roster management by BB. Cut a vet like Branch who you know you can make gentlemans agreement with so that you can keep Shank to take advantage of new IR and then promptly re-sign Branch when the spot opens up.

Thoughts?

The Scrizz

This has been speculated by dozens of posters here as a very likely scenario. Tippet for one won't rest until Shiancoe is on IR or dead in the ground.

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I was like, ‘Dang! Um, Mr. Brady, can we line up?’ He didn’t care. He was like, ‘You’re not going to line up.’ When we turned around one time I checked back around and my hand was going to the grass and they were like, ‘Hut!’ And I said, ‘Noooooooooooo!’

MoLewisrocks

Not sure it makes a ton of sense to use this potentially valuable chip on a 4th TE when Ballard could be ready to play at the same time (week 8). Team would seem to be better served saving that slot for a core player who goes down in the first 4-6 weeks that you need back for the home stretch and playoffs. Probably makes more sense to carry the TE as a gameday inactive for a couple of weeks.

PatsWickedPissah

It should be all about the playoffs for this feature with this franchise.
Don't piss away a benefit you may need.

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"Would I rather have my phone records collected and inspected by the National Security Agency, or have my genitalia handled and scrutinized by the Transportation Security Administration? Why choose? In today’s America you can have both."

BelichickFan

I wanted to post this but not start a new thread and this was the closest related to what I wanted to say.

I am expecting a couple of veterans to return. Branch or Gaffney almost certainly. Probably Koutevides. We kept a lot of young guys. Last year we cut a lot of young players and too many were picked up. So my guess is Bill decided to keep the young guys a little longer until practice squads and rosters were more finalized then sometime soon will cut a couple (Fortson and one more probably) hoping to have a better chance to get them to the practice squad a little later in the process. Then a couple of veterans will return.

cstjohn17

The good old "locker setup trick", I think the story goes "The Patriots are too detailed oriented to ever allow a locker to be incorrectly setup...."

Usually it just means that the locker guy hasn't gotten an updated list of assignments.

Branch could be back but only because of an injury.