2014 Practice Squad Thread

[ctpatsfan77]

Thomas made Dallas roster I believe. But good point on the others. Granted they had a lot of draft picks, but not a great sign to have cut a third of your draft class.

Also, most of their high priority UDFA's (in terms of guaranteed $$) didn't make the team either (Houston, Watson, Jones, Morris, Finch).

Morris might have if he weren't injured, but your point remains.

I'm still disappointed that McCuller isn't there (yet).

 

[jefmblrd]

Doug Kyed ‏@DougKyedNESN 8 Sek.
WR Josh Boyce signed to the Patriots practice squad.

I'm actually glad to hear this news as I liked him coming out of college. Hopefully he uses this opportunity to work hard and learn. Maybe he can make it--if not here then somewhere else potentially.

 

[Mike the Brit]

As I noted earlier in the thread, teams cannot "claim" players off practice squads the way they do off waivers. In other words, the JEST can't just suddenly help themselves to Daxton Swanson. They can, however, (try to) convince him to sign a contract to be on their 53-man roster. NFL rules prohibit teams from doing that in certain cases (e.g., you cannot sign a player off the PS of the next team you're going to play), and require that a player promoted from an opponent's PS must be paid for a minimum of three weeks.

Thanks. I shouldn't have said "claim" but "sign at any time". And, though I knew about the 3-week rule, I didn't know about the next-opponent rule. Still, they can do it a couple of weeks in advance. I forget, but the back-and-forth with Miami last season around A.J. Francis came fairly close to games, didn't it?

 

[patsinthesnow]

Thomas made Dallas roster I believe. But good point on the others. Granted they had a lot of draft picks, but not a great sign to have cut a third of your draft class.

Also, most of their high priority UDFA's (in terms of guaranteed $$) didn't make the team either (Houston, Watson, Jones, Morris, Finch).

The Pats 2014 draft's ceiling and floor are definitely wide apart, but I guess most teams would say the same this early. Good point about the UDFAs. It's tough to give BB credit for Butler when all he offered him was a tryout because the ST coach knew the West Alabama coach.

Ceiling:

Probowl DT
Brady Successor (would make the draft an A+ if it ever happens)
Vereen successor
Starting center
Rotational DL

Floor:

Ras I Dowling at DT
Ryan Mallett 2.0
RB bust
OL busts

 

[Urgent]

So only one new face in Bethel-Thompson.

I thought Martin was injured. Interesting that he's back after sitting out the pre-season, over Halapio.

Would be surprised if LS Hughlett and LB Ja'Gared Davis weren't on the roster quickly. Could swap them on Practice Squad for OL Barker and DL Vellano before the first game.

On Hughlett - he came and went fairly quickly. One, the Patriots must have been unhappy with Aiken. Two, they might have expected other long snappers to be available but ended with someone they were familiar with. Assume they will continue to try out snappers.

 

[jefmblrd]

I'm surprised that Halapio is not on the PS; he must have shown next to nothing in camp. No other team picked him up either, so it makes me wonder.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

So only one new face in Bethel-Thompson.

I thought Martin was injured. Interesting that he's back after sitting out the pre-season, over Halapio.

Would be surprised if LS Hughlett and LB Ja'Gared Davis weren't on the roster quickly. Could swap them on Practice Squad for OL Barker and DL Vellano before the first game.

On Hughlett - he came and went fairly quickly. One, the Patriots must have been unhappy with Aiken. Two, they might have expected other long snappers to be available but ended with someone they were familiar with. Assume they will continue to try out snappers.

A contrarian view on Hughlett: he's PS-eligible but has more NFL experience than, say, Ott. Aiken is not PS-eligible, so whether they like him or hate him, they can't sign him to the PS. I still wouldn't be surprised if Aiken is back by week's end.

 

[jefmblrd]

Would be surprised if LS Hughlett and LB Ja'Gared Davis weren't on the roster quickly. Could swap them on Practice Squad for OL Barker and DL Vellano before the first game.

On Hughlett - he came and went fairly quickly. One, the Patriots must have been unhappy with Aiken. Two, they might have expected other long snappers to be available but ended with someone they were familiar with. Assume they will continue to try out snappers.

I doubt the Pats are going to stick with Ninkovich as the long snapper only because he plays full-time on the defense and that would cut into his practice time with Gostowski and Allen who need lots of reps with the LS. So Hughlett might be getting the call or like you say someone else. I don't think BB has liked Aiken for a while as his snaps are not always crisp and on-target. I wouldn't be surprised to see either Davis on the 53 for special teams purposes.

 

[Ring 6]

Thomas was picked up by Dallas, and Gallon reportedly didn't want to sign with the Pats' PS. But Halapio went from a 6th round "steal" to not even making it to the PS pretty quickly.

That's because we were not smart enough to convert him to C so he could become an all pro.

 

[ATippett56]

So from what I am reading on twitter from various sources, the Patriots' Practice Squad currently consists of:

• LB Ja'Gared Davis
• RB Jonas Gray
• QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson
• DB Dax Swanson
• WR Josh Boyce
• DE Jake Bequette
• LB Deontae Skinner
• OL Chris Martin
• S Kanorris Davis
• LS Charley Hughlett

Interesting.

Not on the list, the following recent New England Patriots draft selections:

Beauharnais
Gallon
Halapio

http://www.pro-football-reference.c...os=ALL&college_id=all&conference=any&show=all

 

[micronin127]

We gave an injury settlement to Beauharnais and cannot resign him until mid-season.

Gallon said 'no thanks'.

Halapio was god awful. Just a bad pick.

 

[Bourne Again Christian]

So Seastrunk and Finch both turned us down?
I count 10 so unless we bump a guy to pick up a guy this looks like it for at least today.

 

[ATippett56]

Has offensive lineman Chris Martin even practiced?

 

[Mack Herron]

Doug Kyed ‏@DougKyedNESN 29s
Patriots practice squad: Ja'Gared, Kanorris Davis, Dax Swanson, Bethel-Thompson, Jonas Gray, Martin, Bequette, Boyce, Skinner, Hughlett.

Has offensive lineman Chris Martin even practiced?

Nope. Nice work if you can get it.

 

[hwc]

With the exception of the QB, that's an excellent practice squad from the standpoint of shadow roster depth. Most of those guys could step in and give you reps as injury replacements, both on special teams and otherwise. For example, if you had a rash of WR injuries, at least Boyce and line up in the right place and catch a football.

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I don't know if Aiken will be back as the long snapper, but it's pretty clear that the Pats weren't going to have him on the roster week one and guarantee his salary for the year.

I'll guess that Ninkovich will handle it for the first week. They'll evaluate this new practice squad guy, and then make a decision.

 

[VrabelJr]

It's a bummer and a good thing for him that Jemea Thomas has caught on to Dallas' 53. He seemed like a Tyrann Mathieu type player and we really don't have another true Free Safety, except for the carousel of CBs we keep trying there. I had a bad feeling when we released him, let's hope I'm wrong!

 

[Oswlek]

With the exception of the QB, that's an excellent practice squad from the standpoint of shadow roster depth. Most of those guys could step in and give you reps as injury replacements, both on special teams and otherwise. For example, if you had a rash of WR injuries, at least Boyce and line up in the right place and catch a football.

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I don't know if Aiken will be back as the long snapper, but it's pretty clear that the Pats weren't going to have him on the roster week one and guarantee is salary for the year.

I'll guess that Nikovitch will handle it for the first week. They'll evaluate this new practice squad guy. And, then make a decision.

I still think it is far more likely that a dedicated LS is on the roster come Sunday.

 

[Danger Zone]

Jets must have been distracted for some reason...

Im going with the assumption that Swanson has ugly toes.

 

[ralmat55]

Are Bequette and Boyce the 2 "new rules" members of the PS or would either or both have qualified under the old rules?

 

[VrabelJr]

Are Bequette and Boyce the 2 "new rules" members of the PS or would either or both have qualified under the old rules?

Boyce would have qualified for sure. I think Bequette might only be qualifying under the new rules but I could be wrong because Bequette hasn't been on the 45 player game day roster that often.