Pats Picker 2014: Post Draft Early 53 Man Roster Projection

Offense - 25

QB (3) Brady, Mallett, Garoppolo
RB (4) Ridley, Vereen, White, Finch
WR (6) Dobson, Edelman, Amendola, LaFell, Thompkins, Boyce
TE (2) Jones, Hoomanawanui (Gronk will bounce Jones, Mallet or an OL after 6 wks)
C (2) Stork, Wendell
G (4) Mankins, Halapio, Kline, Connolly
T (4) Solder, Vollmer, Cannon, Fleming

Defensive - 24

DE (4) Chandler Jones, Ninkovich, Smith, Buchanan
DT (6) Wilfork, Kelly, Easley, Chris Jones, Siliga, Armstead
ILB(3) Mayo, Hightower, Beauharnais
OLB(2) Collins, Hull
CB (5) Revis, Dennard, Ryan, Arrington, Green (Browner will bounce Green after 4 wks)
SS (2) Harmon, Chung
FS (2) McCourty, Thomas

ST - 4 - Gostkowski, Allen, Ott, Slater

Practice Squad

Moore - DE
Gallon/Harison - WR
Houston - RB
Gordon - LB
Watson - TE
OL man (IDK who)
Green - DB (after he is cut after 4 weeks he bumps out someone)

Notes

I made this roster assuming no TE is signed.

I put down 6 WRs (Slater I put under STs) cause of lack of TE talent. I see more 3 WR sets this year and we want to be deep here. I think Gallon/Harrison/Thompkins/Boyce all have a shot. I just picked the 2 most proven at this point.

I see 10 OL as a real possibility at least to start the year. Lack of TE depth means we will want a few extra guys for those short yardage spots. Also though I see Connolly as overpaid particularly I don't am going to wait until a better option appears before thinking of a better way to spend that money.

Cutting both Ebner and Wilson is a bit of a surprise. However, I just ask myself why should they be kept? They are liabilities on D and their replacements (Chung & Thomas) can both play STs pretty well.

5 LBs is unusual but really it is more reflective of how D is played these days IMO. 4-2-5 is the new normal.

10 Dline is a lot but it's also reflective of the kind of D we are trying to have. I think we will see a lot more rotation than last year.

I wanted to keep Devlin but I couldn't. He did well last year but I think Hooman takes that job back.

1960Pats said:

It seems like keeping a total of 12 players at WR and RB is too many. I'd cut that down to 10.

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Slater's not a WR, though.

My very, very early 53 with the following explanations:

I signed Brian Leonard as our FB/4th RB;
I signed Dustin Keller at TE, provided he is ready for TC;
I re-signed Will Svitek as our Swing Tackle;
I signed James Anderson at OLB;
I signed CB Terrell Thomas at CB;
and I signed Reed Doughty at SS.

QB (3) Brady, Mallett, Garoppolo
RB (4) Ridley, Vereen, White, Brian Leonard
WR (5) Edelman, Amendola, LaFell, Boyce, Harrison
TE (4) Hoomanawanui, Williams, Dustin Keller, Justin Jones
C (1) Stork
G (3) Mankins, Connolly, Halapio
T (5) Solder, Vollmer, Cannon, Svitek, Fleming
DE (5) Jones, Ninkovich, Easley, Buchanan, Bequette
DT (4) Kelly, Jones, Siliga, Armstead
ILB(2) Hightower, Beauharnais
OLB(4) Mayo, Collins, James Anderson, Hull
CB (5) Revis, Arrington, Dennard, Ryan, Terrell Thomas
SS (2) Chung, Reed Doughty
FS (3) McCourty, Harmon, Slater
ST (3) Gostkowski, Allen, Tyler Ott

Steven Houston to PS, Bolden & Develin cut;
Gronk to PUP, Asa Watson to PS, big Justin Jones beats out Steven Houston;
Wendell cut, one of the other cut OLmen to PS;
Dobson to PUP, Gallon to PS, Thompkins cut, Austin Collie on speed dial;
Wilfork & Will Smith to PUP, Zach Moore to PS, Vellano cut;
Darius Fleming to PUP, Cam Gordon to PS, JAG Davis & Chris White cut;
Browner suspended, Dax Swanson & Jemea Thomas to PS;
Ebner & the Error Repeater cut;
Tyler Ott cheaper than the occasionally shaky Danny Aiken.

In addition to the PS, shouldn't this include projecting the IR list on opening day? Sean Lee is down on day 1 with a suspected ACL. Still working on the vaccine....

captain stone said:

I signed Brian Leonard as our FB/4th RB;
I signed Dustin Keller at TE, provided he is ready for TC;
I re-signed Will Svitek as our Swing Tackle;
I signed James Anderson at OLB;
I signed CB Terrell Thomas at CB;
and I signed Reed Doughty at SS.

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That sure is a list of guys who played professional football during their lives.

I'm just not sure why you'd want any of them (besides a healthy Keller) on the Patriots, though.

Some comments on the comments

1. Because we took a QB at 62 we not only missed an opportunity for a player we might use before 2018, we also lost an important roster spot because we have to carry 3 QB's this season. Someone we would like to have will be lost because of this pick.

2. In order to make up for that spot, We might only carry 4 RB's including Devlin, which means, if White looks good, Boldin could be on the outside looking in.

3. I can see us keeping 6 true WR's on the roster (plus Slater)

4. I don't see why we have to have 4 true OT's if you slot Cannon to be the Starting RG and a backup OT in case of injury. In that scenario either Wendell or Connolly will get cut. So your OL would look like this: Solder, Mankins, Wendell, Cannon, Volmer - Stork, Hallopio, Kline and Fleming are your back ups. If Stork wins the starting job then I'd keep Connolly as the back up and cut Wendell.

5. We will keep only 3 TE's I'd like it to be Hooman Gronk and the 6'8 kid, but most likely it will be Williams as the #3 guy. I am looking for LaFell or Harrison to get the "move TE" routes

6. I can see us keeping only 5 LB's to start the season to go along with 10 DLmen and 10 DB's.

7. Too many people are looking to move Logan Ryan to S. Hey guys, he was one of the best rookie CB's in the league last year. With Browner out to October we are going to need him at CB (Revis, Dennard, Ryan, Arrington and Green/rookie

8. That means 5 Safeties will make the roster in September (and please stop listing SS as a position. The Pats don't use one) My 5 are: McCourty, Harmon, Ebner, Wilson, Chung -

9. So on offense we wind up with 3 QB's , 9 OLmen, 7 WR's, 4 RB's 3 TE's. On defense we will have 10 DLmen, 5 LB's and 10 DB's. And that's one too many because of the damned QB situation, so we'll either have to go with only 9 DLmen or 8 OLmen and I don't like either of those situations.

primetime said:

That sure is a list of guys who played professional football during their lives.

I'm just not sure why you'd want any of them (besides a healthy Keller) on the Patriots, though.

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Because they would be better than those they would replace.

captain stone said:

Because they would be better than those they would replace.

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They're all horrifically mediocre (Brian Leonard, really?) and they'd be replacing guys who would be at least as good as them (read: not starting caliber, barely NFL caliber) and may have the potential to be better. Filling your roster out with a bunch of veterans who are mediocre on their best day instead of rookies doesn't strike me as a good way to build a team.

patfanken said:

Some comments on the comments

1. Because we took a QB at 62 we not only missed an opportunity for a player we might use before 2018, we also lost an important roster spot because we have to carry 3 QB's this season. Someone we would like to have will be lost because of this pick.

2. In order to make up for that spot, We might only carry 4 RB's including Devlin, which means, if White looks good, Boldin could be on the outside looking in.

3. I can see us keeping 6 true WR's on the roster (plus Slater)

4. I don't see why we have to have 4 true OT's if you slot Cannon to be the Starting RG and a backup OT in case of injury. In that scenario either Wendell or Connolly will get cut. So your OL would look like this: Solder, Mankins, Wendell, Cannon, Volmer - Stork, Hallopio, Kline and Fleming are your back ups. If Stork wins the starting job then I'd keep Connolly as the back up and cut Wendell.

5. We will keep only 3 TE's I'd like it to be Hooman Gronk and the 6'8 kid, but most likely it will be Williams as the #3 guy. I am looking for LaFell or Harrison to get the "move TE" routes

6. I can see us keeping only 5 LB's to start the season to go along with 10 DLmen and 10 DB's.

7. Too many people are looking to move Logan Ryan to S. Hey guys, he was one of the best rookie CB's in the league last year. With Browner out to October we are going to need him at CB (Revis, Dennard, Ryan, Arrington and Green/rookie

8. That means 5 Safeties will make the roster in September (and please stop listing SS as a position. The Pats don't use one) My 5 are: McCourty, Harmon, Ebner, Wilson, Chung -

9. So on offense we wind up with 3 QB's , 9 OLmen, 7 WR's, 4 RB's 3 TE's. On defense we will have 10 DLmen, 5 LB's and 10 DB's. And that's one too many because of the damned QB situation, so we'll either have to go with only 9 DLmen or 8 OLmen and I don't like either of those situations.

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My comments about your comments on the comments.

1. Jimmy Garoppolo is replacing the 53rd player on the roster this year. If he turns out to be a viable replacement for Tom Brady down the road it could turn out to be one of the best picks they've made. It's worth the gamble.

2. The Pats survived quite well in the past with more than 2 QBs. They can do it again this year with no problem.

3-6. I have to trust that the Pats are making the right decisions on how many players to keep at each position, depending on their plans. Since they seem to be a little light at TE and LB, I have to believe that either they feel they have someone to step in or they aren't going to use as many.

7-8. What's in a name anyway? When Big Vince drops back into coverage is he a LB?

9. It's all about the luck with the injuries. If we get them at a position that isn't very deep then that part of the team will struggle. And if that turns out to be at QB then we might be glad they kept a 3rd one.

QB(3) Brady, Mallett, Garappolo
RB(4) Vareen, Ridley, White, Houston
WR (7) Edelman, Amendola, Dobson, LaFell, Boyce, Gallon, Slater
TE(3) Gronk, Keller, Hooman
T(4) Solder, Vollmer, Cannon, Fleming
G(3) Mankins, Connolly, Halapio
C(1) Stork

DT(5) Wilfork, Easley, Silega, Armstead, Jones
DE(4) Ninkovich, Jones, Smith, Buchanan
LB(6) Mayo, Collins, Hightower, Anderson, Beauharnais, Hull, Gordon
CB(6) Revis, Browner, Dennard, Ryan, Arrington, Thomas
S(4) McCourty, Harmon, Chung, Ebner

ST(3) Gostkowski, Allen, Aiken