Schefter reporting Kelly, Anderson and Smith cut

It is very likely that today Sunday 8/24/2014 Tommy Kelly is a better player than Easley, Worthy, Jones, Siliga, and Vellano. The question is will he be the better player in December, and Belichick seems to think that the youngsters will develop into better players and I tend to agree. Kelly was not going to get stronger as the season went; he is 33 years old, and coming off a major knee injury.

Easley is a first round talent, Worthy is a second round talent, Jones, Siliga and Vellano were all productive players for us last year.

Belichick has proven since the start of 2010 that he prefers youth to aging veterans; I think he feels he can get more out of a younger player with something to prove who is looking for a payday.

Jared said:

Note that nearly every "kid" has at least a year of NFL starting experience at this point. Looking "decent" is not enough when you're 33 and on the last year of your contract.

If you cut one of the youngsters, and Kelly leaves next year, you're suddenly out another developmental player who could have continued to improve. BB has always erred on the side of cutting a guy too early rather than too late.

This isn't really a big surprise.

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Keeping Vellano over Kelly isn't a surprise?

Give me the name of your dealer, because he's selling the good stuff.

jefmblrd said:

Somewhat surprised about the Anderson cut due to a big drop off in the back up linebackers. Does this mean that Darius Fleming has a shot at making the club?

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FWIW, I had already penciled in Fleming as the #4 LB. I think it's Beauharnais who should be breathing a little easier with this news.

pencilneckgeek said:

Kelly is no fatty. He was our second best DT until earlier today. I disagree with Belichick's value call, and I hope he loses sleep over that.

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Kelly has played in all three preseason snaps, has not registered a tackle, assist, sack, QB hit, QB hurry, or for that matter a single stat. What exactly has he done besides win 1on1 battles against Jon Halapio to merit a roster spot? I like Kelly he was a great player for many years, but he was not the second best DL on our team, because if he were he would still be on it.

Deus Irae said:

Keeping Vellano over Kelly isn't a surprise?

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By "kids" he could mean Jones, Siliga, Worthy and Easley (or even Ben Bass, who knows?) IMO Vellano's spot is still far from secure.

Deus Irae said:

Keeping Vellano over Kelly isn't a surprise?

Give me the name of your dealer, because he's selling the good stuff.

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One thing i'll say in his defense is Vellano did start the game as DE in the 3-4. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that Vellano has stayed. More that Kelly has gone.

Lets look at worst case here tho... What is Easley, Jones and Silinga aren't ready to go week 1?

What does that leave our Interior line depth at? Wilfork, Vellano and Worthy?

p.s when i look at it like the above... i can't help that think that 2 or all 3 must be projected ready week 1. Would bill really take a risk leaving us that thin at DT?

Deus Irae said:

Keeping Vellano over Kelly isn't a surprise?

Give me the name of your dealer, because he's selling the good stuff.

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I think it is premature to say he is even keeping Vellano. He traded for Worthy because he obviously liked his upside, he has Easley, Siliga and Jones to go along with Wilfork, I do not envision him keeping 6 big DL, so Vellano is likely going to have to beat out Worthy to make the team.

like many others i was very surprised by the cut of t kelly

patchick said:

By "kids" he could mean Jones, Siliga, Worthy and Easley (or even Ben Bass, who knows?) IMO Vellano's spot is still far from secure.

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I totally agree, last season we had 3 DT on our opening roster, people projecting us to double that to 6 seems unlikely. I think we keep 5 DTs with Wilfork, Easley, Jones, and Siliga likely to stick leaving 1 spot open for Worthy, Vellano, or Bass.

jsull87 said:

One thing i'll say in his defense is Vellano did start the game as DE in the 3-4. So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that Vellano has stayed. More that Kelly has gone.

Lets look at worst case here tho... What is Easley, Jones and Silinga aren't ready to go week 1?

What does that leave our Interior line depth at? Wilfork, Vellano and Worthy?

p.s when i look at it like the above... i can't help that think that 2 or all 3 must be projected ready week 1. Would bill really take a risk leaving us that thin at DT?

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He's gambled on positions before and, to his credit, he seems to have enough DL/OLB to be flexible. The players might not all be world beaters, but I'm seeing Wilfork and Siliga as the 2-gap anchors, and surrounded a bunch of 1-gap penetrators rather than all around players, so Kelly may not have fit that mold.

I don't like the move because I don't buy into the "Worse in August/September, better in December" theory when he does it in this manner, and I'd rather play it safe in a year where most things are rolling pretty well so far. We've seen this approach fail too many times. Yes, everything could be fine. On the other hand, this could easily devolve into the Sanders/Meriweather cuts, encore.

Time will tell, and I hope Worthy is.

Jerel Worthy showed some impressive short area burst on that sack in the 4th quarter of the Carolina game. So they take another long look at him and in the process give the vet, Kelley, his release now instead of Saturday. A thoughtful move by BB and one that benefits everybody involved.

Meanwhile,the Pats are at 75 right now meaning that 22 more cuts are coming by Saturday night. What the tells ME is NO ONE is a lock beyond the obvious starters.It's binky slaughter time and I LOVE it.

meatface said:

maybe they plan on grabbing one of the DT that have been cut by another team. I dont think Anderson is a surprise, he really had not played very well this preseason.

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I don't think they cut Kelly to grab another DT. I think it just signals they are happy with the young guys as they likely won't get a better very FA than him.

Do not get the Gerard Warren connection. He was released on 9/7. Re-signed 3 weeks later. Patriots signed and released another defensive tackle (Landon Cohen) in between.

Joker said:

Jerel Worthy showed some impressive short area burst on that sack in the 4th quarter of the Carolina game. So they take another long look at him and in the process give the vet, Kelley, his release now instead of Saturday. A thoughtful move by BB and one that benefits everybody involved.

Meanwhile,the Pats are at 75 right now meaning that 22 more cuts are coming by Saturday night. What the tells ME is NO ONE is a lock beyond the obvious starters.It's binky slaughter time and I LOVE it.

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The Pats are at 84 right now, not 75.

patchick said:

FWIW, I had already penciled in Fleming as the #4 LB. I think it's Beauharnais who should be breathing a little easier with this news.

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I agree, I will add though that Morris got a lot of reps on Friday and played well.

mcmurtry86 said:

The Pats are at 84 right now, not 75.

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my mistake...they WILL be at 75 in 24 hours or so.

Once we trade Mallett to St Louis for Robert Quinn, Aaron Donald, and James Laurinaitis these cuts will make more sense to you all.

I had Kelly as one of the keys to the defense before preseason but after watching him play he was getting pushed back a whole lot more then you would want from a 6.6 320 DT so its not the biggest shock to me

mcmurtry86 said:

The Pats are at 84 right now, not 75.

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Forget it. He's rolling.

Brady6 said:

Once we trade Mallett to St Louis for Robert Quinn, Aaron Donald, and James Laurinaitis these cuts will make more sense to you all.

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Do you think BB can get them to throw in Alec Ogletree, too?