Postgame cuts - Exhibition Game 3 edition

I can foresee Devey and Halapio demoted to the practice squad.

Deus Irae said:

Morris and Gallon are interesting choices, IMO, @jmt. I'm not sure BB wants to expose them to the extra days of availability.

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pencilneckgeek said:

Agreed. Hilapio too.

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And on the other hand, there is also this response from Belichick to a question regarding the idea of cutting a player with the in regards to the hopes or intentions of then signing him to the practice squad:




Those were the fifteen names that I came up with, admittedly without putting a whole lot of time and thought into it. Would enjoy seeing other's list for the sake of comparison and discussion.


edit: with Terrence Williams being waived prior to being placed on IR, and Marcus Forston and D.J. Williams being released, the current roster is at 87 players, not 90. That means that three other players are safe, at least for four additional days.

PatsWickedPissah said:

First the geezer jokes. Now the redhead H8. Patsfans has become a hostile play place.

I just don't see why Chung is out there. Cut him & hope.

Boyce has given no reason to make the 53.

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Patrick Chung sucks. Chip Kelly can take him back.

Will Smith to the shadow roster for now. (Perhaps needs to continue rehabbing that knee?) Also, not really sold on James Anderson. Name recognition isn't everything, I guess...

Disappointing to say this, considering he was supposed to be instrumental in our WR "do-over" from last season, but it's hard to fathom Boyce making the 53. Struggles to crack the lineup even with Dobson sidelined and when playing 0 TEs. Maybe his lack of involvement will help to get him over to the PS?

Been a long time since I've been so uncertain about the bottom, say, third of the roster. Haven't seen nearly enough in preseason to say who's likely to round out the depth chart at OL, DL, LB, S, or even RB. For that matter, I'm no longer so confident the team will carry 3 QBs heading into the season. (If JG leapfrogs Mallett for the #2 slot -- which, to be clear, I'm not saying has happened or will happen -- and assuming there's no trade market for the guy, is a 3rd QB who's gone after the season worth a roster spot?)

This is harder than it should be because the Panthers wanted no part of us last night in any phase of the game.

My first cut would be Will Smith. His only effective pass rush move is when he is getting flagged for trying to make the ot eat his fist. He had a decent game but someone has to go.

Jake Bequette-had a decent game but his time is up

Boyce-did he even play?

I almost wish we didn't have to cut anyone till after the 4th game because this third game was not enough.

Starting to re-think Mallett....

I doubt any of the drafted rookies are released here.
I would not be surprised to see Will Smith andBequette released here along with the list of bottom of the depth chart folks.

Sure is nice when the cut down to 75 players is so difficult. I need to work backwards and see who stays around for a longer look:

Offense (38)
QB TB, Mallet, Grappa (3)
RB Ridley, Vereen, Bolden, White, Gray, Finch, Gaffney* (7)
FB Develin, McCuller (2)
WR Edelman, Amendola, Thompkins, Dobson, LaFell, Gallon, Boyce, Tyms, Slater (9)
TE Gronk, Whoman, Maneri, Jones (4)
C Connolly, Stork, Wendell, Cave (4)
G Mankins, Kline, Halapio, Barker (4)
T Solder, Vollmer, Cannon, Devey, Fleming (5)

Defense (34)
DT Wilfork, Kelly, Easley, Siliga, Jones, Vellano, Worthy, Tuipolutu (8)
DE Jones, Nink, Buchanan, Moore, Smith, Bass (6)
LB Mayo, HighT, Collins, Anderson, Bohar, Fleming, White, Morris (8)
CB Revis, Browner, Dennard, Ryan, Arrington, Butler (6)
S McCourty, Harmon, Wilson, Ebner, Davis, Thomas (6)

Special Teams (3)
Ghost, Allen, Aiken

* My understanding is that Gaffney is not on a reserve list yet and needs to be maintained on the active roster. Somebody correct me if I am wrong. Reiss has Chris Martin on a reserve list, but the Patriots do not, so I'm putting him on the cut list. Hope I didn't miss a player here.

That leaves these cuts:

WR Wilson Van Hooser
WR Derrick Johnson
OT Chris Martin
DT Eathyn Manumaleuna
DE Jake Bequette
LB Deontae Skinner
LB Cameron Gordon
LB JGDavis
S Patrick Chung - The annual veteran kindness cut.
S Shamiel Gary
DB Dax Swanson
CB Travis Hawkins

If Stork is healthy enough to play and provide some depth on the interior OL, I could see Barker getting cut and Hawkins getting another week. Chung is close to making the roster, but he's not going to improve, so he is a known defensive liability in pass coverage, whereas the other STer safeties (Thomas & Ebner) might improve, and KDavis is a mini-Slater.

And to confirm:

Upon the date of the first preseason cut down players can be placed on IR without passing through waivers.
The CBA states that prior to the first cut down date from 90 to 75 players with fewer than four years of experience must be waived/injured and pass through waivers.

Also note that players with fewer than four years of experience are waived and subject to waiver claim rules. That is related to draft order. players with more than four years are released and immediately free agents. In the transaction report you will see both waived and released used. That's what it means.

Deus Irae said:

You know my take on Chung, so you know I'm with you. The only response I could give to counter yours would be "Oh, Yeah? And who plays the position then?", because S2 has been quite a large bag of suck, so far.

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They're going to have to end up moving a corner there. Whether that's Ryan or Arrington is up for debate, but it's going to happen eventually. I see no reason why Chung should make the final roster. His play on special teams isn't anything special and he's a liability in just about every aspect at safety. But then, Wilson hasn't shown improvement either so I guess it's a wash. I've changed my mind on Boyce, too. Very easy to see him getting cut. He could do well in an offense like Baltimore's where the routes and pre-snap reads are more simple and where all he has to do is use his speed to get under the ball while that ****** Flacco lofts one up. But I don't see him ever being a fit here.

BobDigital said:

Wouldn't clear be bald? : P

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Yeah right. I bet you think the emperor was naked too.

I don't think I'd cut him yet (tho BB has made far more unexpected cuts), but Mallett really isn't looking good and the play time he was given was slim. Game 4 will be interesting just to watch more of the Mallett vs Gropp story.

BradyBomb said:

Edit: My first time I posted my cuts i cut too many DL. Keep Bequette and Tuipulotu till next cut down and cut Skinner and Gary this cut.

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Yeah, because the coaching staff needs more time to evaluate Jake Bequette........

Seriously, the Iranian Hostage Crisis was a shorter period of captivity than the Patriots holding onto Bequette..

jmt57 said:

I didn't see anybody play so horrendously in this game that they immediately get cut. I'm basing that comment based on this being the third thread in a series, i.e., they played their way off the roster in this game.

That being said, the first set of cuts comes on Tuesday, which is prior to preseason game four. Here is my guess on which players will (or should) be released 8/26 in order to get the roster down to 75 players:

WR Wilson Van Hooser
WR Derrick Johnson
OL Jon Halapio
LB James Morris
LB Deontae Skinner
LB Cameron Gordon
DT Eathyn Manumaleuna
DT L.T. Tuipulotu
S Shamiel Gary
S Jemea Thomas


That's ten players, the next five get a bit tougher to decide on:

WR Jeremy Gallon
DT Joe Vellano
DB Dax Swanson
CB Travis Hawkins
OL Jordan Devey


edit: the current roster is at 87 players, not 90, so rather than 15 cuts there only needs to be 12 on Tuesday. I would spare Gallon, an OL (Devey or Halapio), and either a LB (Morris) or DB (Swanson or Hawkins).

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I think they would want to retain Halapio, Thomas, and Gallon on the practice squad so I would not expect any of them to be released until final cuts.

Haley said:

I don't think I'd cut him yet (tho BB has made far more unexpected cuts), but Mallett really isn't looking good and the play time he was given was slim. Game 4 will be interesting just to watch more of the Mallett vs Gropp story.

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He was on the field for one drive in the first quarter and led the team on a scoring drive. I know you post the picture of their stats but realistically Brady and Garopollo played multiple series.

I thoroughly expect Mallet to get more airtime next week.

In the end, I doubt whether Mallett stays is anything to do with him as I think we know what we get...it will be more to do with whether they trust Jimmy G if Brady goes down week 1.

IMO the backup linebackers are as tough to forecast as the safeties. Darius Fleming seems to be leading the pack and Cameron Gordon trailing, but I could make a case for any of Beauharnais, Anderson, Morris and even McCuller.

BobDigital said:

I'll repost this from the game thread since it fits better here. People might disagree and that is fine cause we all didn't get to see everyone on every play with only 1 watch through.

Rapid reaction for bottom roster guys

Whos Hot

McCuller - LB/FB/TE
Beauh - LB
Vellano - DT

Whos Not

Wendell - C
Devey - G
Chung - S
Anderson - LB
Boyce - WR

Mixed Bag

Lafell - WR
Worthy - DT* (first game in about a year though)
White - RB

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I liked what I saw from Morris at LB. I didn't remember seeing him in the other games. I thought Dane Fletcher had returned. I'm also mildly excited about Jonas Gray. I'm still a Brian Tyms guy.

I have to laugh at people saying that Lafell is likely to be cut.. Not even close..

Morris, Manumaleuna, Van Hooser, Derrick Johnson, Chris Martin, Bequette, Will Smith, Hawkins, Tuipolotu, Skinner, Ben Bass.

Tyler Gaffney will be done after the 4th game when the Pats can put him on IR. It's not happening before that.

After the 4th game, Browner and Tyms will be put on the Suspended list.

I don't see the Pats going with anything less than 6 LBs, not including Chris White.

Is anyone else surprised that Bolden has only been on the field for like 3 plays through 3 pre-season games? This isn't a guy of SuperStar caliber like Brady or Revis. This is a end of the roster guy.. I could easily see Bolden being one of the cuts in the down to 75.

DaBruinz said:

Is anyone else surprised that Bolden has only been on the field for like 3 plays through 3 pre-season games? This isn't a guy of SuperStar caliber like Brady or Revis. This is a end of the roster guy..

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I agree, assuming he's healthy it's a head-scratcher.

I really don't know what to think about the RB4 slot at this point. None of the 3 current candidates seems unreasonable, yet none would make me shed a tear if they signed elsewhere. Realistically, if the top 3 are healthy #4 doesn't make the gameday 45 anyway, so it could be a position to skimp on for the initial roster in order to try out some waiver claims at other spots.