Postgame cuts - Exhibition Game 3 edition

Maybe they have a trade their working on for Bolden for a tight end
Maybe Bolden for Housler

The running back competition is tense. There's almost no one who seems to be deserving of a cut. But something's gotta give--and soon.

I know it's preseason performance but I'd much prefer Jonas Gray over Brandon Bolden. Seems like he might be that ideal backup up to Ridley and a 4th quarter closer.

I'd like to see Gray stick simply on the fact that I feel like I've seen everything Bolden has to offer. Tyms never plays a meaningful snap for this franchise.

Ridley was put back in the dog house for fumbling in game 2. If he fumbles again in pre-season do you see him getting moved and one of the rooks staying?

For what it is worth, here are the breakdowns in playing time for the Patriots versus Carolina.
Reiss gives a brief opinion as to what it may mean for each position in the two columns.

Patriots offensive snaps vs. Panthers - espnBoston




Patriots defensive snaps vs. Panthers - espnBoston


In my opinion for several players (such as Devey, Vellano, Worthy, Fleming, Morris, JDavis, Butler and Chung), the relatively high number of snaps was an indication that they are right on the bubble and that the coaches wanted to get an extended look at them, to better determine whether or not they want to keep them - in other words, let them play their way on or off the roster.



For the pass-catchers, Christopher Price compiled a list of targets and completions:

It Is What It Is >> Tracking opportunities in Patriots preseason passing game


As far as special teams goes, Tavon Wilson, Nate Ebner and Chris White were the only three to play on all four units, while Michael Buchanan and Matthew Slater were the only ones on three of the four units. Darius Fleming and Patrick Chung were among those to play on two of the special teams units.

I'm still embarrassed that I'm on record somewhere saying that Bequette would start his career much faster than Jones because of how much more pro-ready he looked in college.

...hope no one digs that one up!

patchick said:

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.

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Unless the RB4 is Bolden. He plays on ST more than Slater (even if he isn't as special a teamer).

patchick said:

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.

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Last night I was starting to ponder, if they've been preparing all camp with the expectation that FB is really going to integral to the offense in 2014, don't they need a backup at the position? (Though surely McCuller would safely make his way to the PS?)

pencilneckgeek said:

Unless the RB4 is Bolden. He plays on ST more than Slater (even if he isn't as special a teamer).

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As 2RB sets are in, and kick returns more or less out, I wonder if we keep a 5th RB (in addition to the FB) at the expense of Boyce.

So, here's my current 53. I think most of the later-round draftees are PS material: Wilson, Gallon, Moore. I'm keeping Halapio for now but might replace him with Kline. I'm cutting a lot of the look-see players (Will Smith, Bass and flashes in the pan (Butler, Gray).

OFFENSE:

QB (3) Brady, Mallett, Garoppolo (Keeping the 3 QB for trade bait).

RB (5) Ridley, Vereen, Develin, White, Bolden (Like the previous poster I like White, Finch, and Gray, but that's probably because due to the labor problems Market Basket isn't strong this year. Bolden has special teams contributions so he stays for now).

WR (8) Edelman, Amendola, Thompkins, Slater, LaFell, Tyms, Boyce, Dobson (Tyms doesn't count for now, the next four weeks would be one last shot for Boyce).

TE (2) Gronkowski, Hoomanawanui (Obvious).

C (2) Wendell, Stork (Wendell is not getting cut until we see what if anything Stork can do; he's our backup center at minimum in my mind).

G (3) Mankins, Halapio, Connolly, Cannon (I have Solder-Mankins-Connolly-Cannon-Vollmer for now).

T (4) Solder, Vollmer, Fleming (With Wendell as backup C, Cannon as backup G/T, Connolly as backup G, the three rookies will need sorting).

DEFENSE:

DE (3) Cha. Jones, Worthy, Ninkovich.

DT (4) Wilfork, Kelly, Siliga, Easley (Siliga may hit IR but I liked what I saw last year, he needs to stay; Vellano and Chris Jones are scrubby).

ILB(2) Mayo, Hightower (Obvious).

OLB(4) Collins, Fleming, Anderson, Beauharnais (Beauharnais beats out Bequette). Boy does it feel thin here.

CB (5) Revis, Dennard, Arrington, Ryan, Browner (We need a lot of DB so I keep 10, which is a lot I realize, but Browner will dislodge one of Ryan, Harmon, Ebner, Chung, or Wilson).

SS (3) Harmon, Wilson, Ebner

FS (2) McCourty, Chung

ST (3) Gostkowski, Allen, Aiken
Total players: 53
Created with Pats Picker: http://patspicker.patsfans.com

So to get down to 75 from 87 I'm cutting

TE Jones--This one hurts the most.
WR Johnson, Van Hooser
G Martin, Barker
DT Tuipolotu, Manumaleuna
LB McCuller, Skinner, Gordon
CB Hawkins, Swanson
S Gary

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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Not really surprising. The JAG backup RB slot is one that you would always want to fill with a rookie contract guy, since, by definition they are basically all the same -- a dime a dozen. Bolden's on the final year of his contract. There's probably zero interest in re-signing him, so he has no future with the Pats. They probably figure it's better to keep a rookie to gain a year of experience, particularly given that it's Ridley's last season. They don't want ALL rookies next year.

It also seems likely that the Pats offense this year will feature run/pass players in the backfield which would make White a more valuable backup.

No way Butler gets cut (unless he's been caught doing coke in the locker room or something....). CBs are too expensive. When you have a rook that shows that kind of potential, you'd have to have rocks in your head to cut him.

I found this amusing:

Chung played in the base defense and then came off in sub packages in place of Harmon. Perhaps that's the way the Patriots are leaning towards handling the spot next to McCourty, which has been a revolving door this preseason.

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Patriots defensive snaps vs. Panthers - espnBoston

Run/pass substitutions at safety.

The list below does not include veterans who might be cut to give them a shot on other teams. Possibilities include Smith, Worthy, Anderson, Bequette, Chung and Wilson. My gut says that two might be cut and that we would keep Gordon and Morris another week

MG 75 MAN ROSTER August 23 (with the bolded players as cuts to the 55 man roster)
1) Devey over Kline.
2) Smith over Worthy.
3) I expect Siliga or Jones to be put on the IR Return list the day after the "final" 53.
4) We don't have a #2 safety, so I think we'll keep all the pretenders (all are STers)
5) I think health to others favor Wendell and Vellano. Both are needed as backups.
6) It is possible that someone will beat out Bolden, but his ST play helps his cause.
7) I don't think that any of the top rookie draft picks (4th and lower) will be cut.
8) Boyce or a 3rd TE or RB from another team could take Bolden's spot.

Obviously, a player or two could be added from another team before or after the "final" (and perhaps before Game 2 when salaries are not guaranteed).

IMHO, this is the strongest starting roster that we've had under Belichick, except for 2004 and 2007.

OFFENSE (36)
QB (3) Brady, Garoppolo, Mallett
RB (7) Ridley, Vereen, White, Develin, Bolden, Gray, Finch
WR (9) Edelman, Amendola, Dobson, LaFell, Thompkins, Boyce, Slater, Tyms, Gallon
TE (4) Gronkowski, Hoomanawanui, Maneri, Jones
C (5) Connolly, Wendell, Stork, Cave, Barker
G (4) Mankins, Devey, Kline, Halapio
T (4) Vollmer, Solder, Cannon, Fleming

DEFENSE (36)
DE (6) Jones, Ninkovich, Buchanan, Smith, Moore, Bequette
DT (7) Wilfork, Kelly, Easley, Siliga, Vellano, Jones, Worthy
ILB(3) Mayo, Beauharnais, McCuller
OLB(6) Hightower, Collins, Fleming, Anderson, White, Davis
CB (7) Revis, Dennard, Arrington, Ryan, Butler, Browner, Thomas
SS (4) Harmon, Chung, Ebner, Swanson
FS (3) McCourty, Wilson, Davis

SPECIALISTS (3)
ST (3) Gostkowski, Allen, Aiken

Total players: 75
Created with Pats Picker: http://patspicker.patsfans.com

CUTS
RB Gaffney
WR Van hoosen
WR Johnson
OG Martin
DT Bass
DT Tulpulotu
DT Manwualauna
LB Skinner
CB Hawkins
S Gary
LB Gordon (see above note)
LB Morris (see above note)

My 53 is mostly unchanged

QB - 2 - Brady Garo (Mallet is traded or cut... no need to carry him)
TE - 2 - Gronk Hooman
WR - 7 - Dobson LaFell Edelman Amendola Thompkins (Tyms wk 4) Slater
OC - 2 - Stork Connolly (I think Wendell played himself off the roster this game)
OG - 4 - Mankins Cannon Kline Devey (Devey is borderline but has shown enough for now)
OT - 3 - Solder Vollmer Fleming
RB - 5 - Ridley Vereen White Finch Develin

DE - 3 - Jones Nink Buchanan (will play enough 3-4 it looks like so guys Hightower and Collins can fill in on the edge).
DT - 6 - Wilfork Kelly Easley Jones Silvia Worthy
LB - 6 - Mayo Collins Hightower Anderson Beau Fleming (This spot is still up in the air for the last 3 spots. If McCuller can show he knows how to play LB fairly well he makes it).
CB - 6 - Revis Dennard Ryan Arrington Butler (Browner wk 4)
FS - 4 - McCourty Harmon Chung Ebner (Looks like Wilson is off right now).

STs 3 - you know em.

so at this point I do not know my personal feelings about the QB situation and whom to keep, but i can tell you that BB know exactly what he has in mallet. If you are not sure about a guy, you test him, and he barely played in this past game. I believe that means that mallet wil be the #2 going into the season. He does not need to be evaluated.

If they can get a 7th round pick for Mallett I'd pull the trigger. If not I'd cut him.

JimmyG looks special and there's too many folks on the bubble I'd rather see stick around than Mallett.

Deus Irae said:

I found this amusing:



http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-.../4766701/patriots-defensive-snaps-vs-panthers

Run/pass substitutions at safety.

Click to expand...

May I ask why you find it amusing?

Cuts to 75:

Swanson, Daxton
Gary, Shamiel
Hawkins, Travis
Bequette, Jake
Bass, Ben
Manumaleuna, Eathyn
Tuipulotu, L.T
Gordon, Cameron
Skinner, Deontae
Jones, Justin
Johnson, Derrick
Van Hooser, Wilson