Entering preseason, how many roster spots are locked up?

[patsinthesnow]

And conversely, how many spots are up for grabs?

Locks IMO:

QB: Brady, Mallett, Garoppolo
RB: Ridley, Vereen, White, Develin
WR: Edelman, Amendola, Dobson, KT
TE: Gronk, Hooman
OT: Solder, Vollmer, Fleming
OG: Mankins, Cannon, Kline
C: Stork

Total: 20

DE: Jones, Ninkovich, Buchanan
DT: Wilfork, Siliga, Easley
LB: Mayo, Hightower, Collins
CB: Revis, Browner, Arrington, Dennard, Ryan
S: McCourty, Harmon

Total: 16

K: Gostowski
LS:
P: Allen
ST: Slater

Total: 3

Total: 39/53

Edit: forgetting slater, ouch

 

[Miguel]

I would remove Dobson since he could go on PUP. Add James Anderson.

 

[micronin127]

Easley could start out on PUP as well. So long as Wilfork is back and playing well, the defensive line play will be much improved. We can wait until Easley is ready.

 

[Luxusdk]

Would add Slater, Halapio, LaFell, Chris Jones and Wilson

 

[signbabybrady]

From what we have been hearing neither Easly nor Dobson seems to be long enough to require PUP.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I'd rather address the open issues from 2013.

Offense:
Running game: Good and stays good
Offensive line: Only Good But trends even better
Offensive line depth: Much better
WRs interior: Good and better than last season
WRs outside: Better and prospectively improvement possible
WR Depth: Good
TE: Best in the League
TE Depth: Unknown and questionable
QB: Best in the League
QB depth: Better than last season

Defense:
Run Game interior: Better but amount uncertain
Run Game wide: Good and maybe better
Passing Short: Prospectively much better but amount uncertain
Passing long: Prospectively much better but uncertain
Pass Rush: Good and prospectively even better

LAST season:
Offense #3, Weakness Deep Pass
Defense #10, Weakness Interior Run; Short Pass;

 

[MrNathanDrake]

I wouldn't call Buchanan a lock just yet, but I have been hearing good things about him in camp.

Still not what I'd consider a lock.

 

[jmt57]

As a reminder, this tool is extremely useful when going through the exercise of roster projections:

Pats Picker 2014 | PatsFans.com


Also, the roster on the team web site can be sorted by name, position, age, etc.:

Team Roster | Patriots.com


Last but not least, Miguel's page sheds light on cap savings and hits if released:

PatsCap.com | Miguel's UNOFFICIAL 2014 Patriots Salary Cap Information Page



Barring unforeseen injury, I came up with 29 "locks" (including some that will not (Browner) or may not (Dobson) be on the week one roster:

QB (2) Brady, Garoppolo
RB (3) Ridley, Vereen, White
WR (4) Edelman, Amendola, Dobson, Slater
TE (1) Gronkowski
C (1) Stork
G (1) Mankins
T (3) Solder, Vollmer, Fleming
DE (2) Jones, Ninkovich
DT (2) Wilfork, Easley
LB(3) Mayo, Hightower, Collins
CB (3) Revis, Browner, Ryan
SS (2) McCourty, Harmon
ST (2) Gostkowski, Allen

Total players: 29
Created with Pats Picker: http://patspicker.patsfans.com

 

[Brady6]

And conversely, how many spots are up for grabs?

Locks IMO:

QB: Brady, Mallett, Garoppolo
RB: Ridley, Vereen, White, Develin
WR: Edelman, Amendola, Dobson, KT
TE: Gronk, Hooman
OT: Solder, Vollmer, Fleming
OG: Mankins, Cannon, Kline
C: Stork

Total: 20

DE: Jones, Ninkovich, Buchanan
DT: Wilfork, Siliga, Easley
LB: Mayo, Hightower, Collins
CB: Revis, Browner, Arrington, Dennard, Ryan
S: McCourty, Harmon

Total: 16

K: Gostowski
LS:
P: Allen
ST: Slater

Total: 3

Total: 39/53

Edit: forgetting slater, ouch

These are my locks:

QB- Brady, Garopollo
RB- Ridley, Vereen, White
WR- Edelman, Dobson
TE- Gronkowski
OL- Solder, Vollmer, Mankins, Cannon, Fleming, Stork
DL- Jones, Wilfork, Ninkovich, Easley
LB- Mayo, Collins, Hightower
DB- Revis, McCourty, Browner, Dennard, Ryan, Harmon
ST- Gostkowski, Allen