Rivers and James released; Mays and Thomas promoted; Asante officially activated

[Slagathor]

Re: Pats Moves

I don't get the cutting of Rivers. I think its a mistake...Personally, Corey Mays is a waste of a roster spot.

Corey Mayes was easily THE WORST linebacker in the pre-season. He sucks.

I don't get it.

 

[pats1]

I'm not as high on Rivers I guess as some others are. Just really a scrub journeyman vet who had a few nice catches in the preseason. He was really the 53rd guy on the roster -- we'll probably see him back at some point, but I'm not so sure it's a guaranteed contract thing.

 

[pats1]

Re: Pats Moves

Corey Mayes was easily THE WORST linebacker in the pre-season. He sucks.

I don't get it.

Yes, and that was playing on the defense.

Mays is NOT a defensive player. He is a poor man's Larry Izzo. A special teamer by trade. So it would be unfair to say he sucks just because he had trouble playing ILB in the preseason.

What matters is how he plays on special teams. And he did a good job of it last season.

I mean, were you expecting him to see time at ILB instead of Bruschi or something?!?

 

[RayClay]

Re: Asante Activated - Per Schefter on NFLN [released Tory James]

I'm guessing you mean the "Will Asante be activated before the 4PM deadline?" and the "Schefter expects Asante to play week 1" threads? Respectfully, I think that the official moves are important enough news not to get buried in two threads that focus on speculation. If you bury news like this, you'll have 4 more new threads on it started on it by morning.

Official news, what's that?

 

[pats1]

The Mays activation is directly related to the James release.

James was only going to play on special teams anyway, with Meriweather, Gay, Hobbs, Samuel, Sanders, and Wilson all on defense. Andrews and Mitchell are there for emergencies (and Baker if he was healthy).

So Mays simply takes over James' role for special teams.

And I don't see why we're crying in our cheerios about losing our 4th TE (at best 3rd with Thomas out) or our at best 5th CB. C'mon people, this isn't the preseason. You only need 12-14 players on each side of the ball. The other 25 are split almost evenly between backup OL/DL/QB and special teamers.

I think we need to get out of the routine of the preseason - 80+ players, 4 deep at each position, with all the backups seeing time with the offense and defense. That simply isn't the case in the regular season. If you depth doesn't hold a clipboard or carry around 300+ lbs., they better be able to play special teams at a high level or they're not going to be on a team. Mays is IMO a better special teamer than James, so he makes the cut. You can function with no TEs in an offense, so 2 is fine. But you can't function without DL. That's why Thomas makes the cut.

 

[DaBruinz]

I'm not as high on Rivers I guess as some others are. Just really a scrub journeyman vet who had a few nice catches in the preseason. He was really the 53rd guy on the roster -- we'll probably see him back at some point, but I'm not so sure it's a guaranteed contract thing.

Rivers was a damn good blocker during pre-season. Light-years better than Watson.

 

[bradybunch]

Is Mays even going to be active this is what i have for active 45:

QB - Brady, Cassel

RB - Maroney, Evans, Faulk, Morris

TE - Watson, Brady

WR - Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Gaffney, Washington

OL - Light, Mankins, Koppen, Neal, Kazcur, O' Call, Yates, Hochstein,

DL - Green, Wilfork, Warren, Le Smith, K Brown,

LB - Vrabel, Thomas, Bruschi, Colvin, Seau, Izzo, Alexander, Woods

DB - Samuel, Hobbs, Gay, Andrews, Sanders, Wilson, Meriweather, Mitchell

K - Gostkowski

P - Hanson, Paxton

OUT

Thats my 53
S. Thomas
Mays
Britt
Herron
M Guitt
Wright
Baker
D. Thomas

 

[pats1]

Rivers was a damn good blocker during pre-season. Light-years better than Watson.

Great! But when the hell is he going to play?

The Pats aren't going to take Watson off the field for friggin' Marcellus Rivers.

They have Brady to block. They don't need another one.

This isn't the preseason.

 

[pats1]

Is Mays even going to be active this is what i have for active 45:

QB - Brady, Cassel

RB - Maroney, Evans, Faulk, Morris

TE - Watson, Brady

WR - Moss, Stallworth, Welker, Gaffney, Washington

OL - Light, Mankins, Koppen, Neal, Kazcur, O' Call, Yates, Hochstein,

DL - Green, Wilfork, Warren, Le Smith, K Brown,

LB - Vrabel, Thomas, Bruschi, Colvin, Seau, Izzo, Alexander, Woods

DB - Samuel, Hobbs, Gay, Andrews, Sanders, Wilson, Meriweather, Mitchell

K - Gostkowski

P - Hanson, Paxton

OUT

Thats my 53
S. Thomas
Mays
Britt
Herron
M Guitt
Wright
Baker
D. Thomas

It will either be Mays or Yates out.

 

[DaBruinz]

Great! But when the hell is he going to play?

The Pats aren't going to take Watson off the field for friggin' Marcellus Rivers.

They have Brady to block. They don't need another one.

This isn't the preseason.

Gee, I don't know, Pats1. How about every time they have a short yardage situation and need to put 2 blocking TEs on the field... Which was MANY times last year...

And, YES, I damn well WOULD take Watson off the field for Rivers in those situations.

 

[PatsSteve1]

Re: Asante Activated - Per Schefter on NFLN [released Tory James]

Official news, what's that?

Official news is only in threads that have Official in the thread title.

 

[pats1]

Gee, I don't know, Pats1. How about every time they have a short yardage situation and need to put 2 blocking TEs on the field... Which was MANY times last year...

And, YES, I damn well WOULD take Watson off the field for Rivers in those situations.

But with a 45-man gameday roster, you simply CANNOT get that specialized (i.e. bring in a different player for every situation). Watson is a decent enough blocker to stay out there.

And when did they bring out 2 blocking TEs last year? They had Graham, Watson, and Thomas -- only 1 of which (Graham) is a plus blocker. Thomas really only saw time when either Watson or Graham was out with an injury.

 

[pats1]

Furthermore, the chances of Rivers being an active 45 are slim if all he would do is block in short yardage.

The chances of Mays being an active 45 are much higher if he can contribute on special teams.

 

[Slagathor]

Re: Pats Moves

Yes, and that was playing on the defense.

Mays is NOT a defensive player. He is a poor man's Larry Izzo. A special teamer by trade. So it would be unfair to say he sucks just because he had trouble playing ILB in the preseason.

What matters is how he plays on special teams. And he did a good job of it last season.

I mean, were you expecting him to see time at ILB instead of Bruschi or something?!?

Regardless of what he may add to special teams, I can't see keeping him for the game over Rivers. Rivers was very productive.

At least Izzo is somewhat functional as a LB. This guy doesn't seem to bring anything else to the table.

 

[DaBruinz]

But with a 45-man gameday roster, you simply CANNOT get that specialized (i.e. bring in a different player for every situation). Watson is a decent enough blocker to stay out there.

And when did they bring out 2 blocking TEs last year? They had Graham, Watson, and Thomas -- only 1 of which (Graham) is a plus blocker. Thomas really only saw time when either Watson or Graham was out with an injury.

WOW. Do you ALWAYS go out making these sorts of assumptions? No one is saying to get that Specialized. Rivers plays on special teams as well. And would easily be in on the goal-line situations.

So how about you dial it down a notch or two and realize that there are plenty of people who are just as smart and knowledgeable as you, Pats1.

OH, and, btw, there are players who DON'T get to play every game. It happens...

Your making a ton of assumptions about who will and won't play on special teams.

 

[Mack Herron]

Thinking now they could have kept Mills...

 

[pats1]

Re: Pats Moves

Regardless of what he may add to special teams, I can't see keeping him for the game over Rivers. Rivers was very productive.

In the preseason! Against second and third teamers!

I hereby dub this the "Patrick Cobbs syndrome." And I refuse to be consumed by it.

If Brady or Watson wasn't here (or if Thomas was on R/PUP), then Rivers would stay.

But there simply isn't room! It EXACTLY the same as Cobbs last year. He runs all over second and third teamers and all the sudden he should make the 53. But where the hell is he going to fit in? The Pats only needed 4 RBs - Dillon, Maroney, Faulk, and Evans. It was simply illogical to keep Cobbs, especially considering he had no special teams prowess.

At least Izzo is somewhat functional as a LB. This guy doesn't seem to bring anything else to the table.

It doesn't matter! If the Pats need to have Mays play on the defense, that means Vrabel, Thomas, Seau, Bruschi, and Alexander have ALL been injured. And by then, the Pats have more problems than Mays at ILB.

Again, what Mays can do on defense is ABSOLUTELY IRRELEVANT. With a 53-man roster (45 active), there's no solitary way a team can keep enough players for they can have a decent guy on the field if their first TWO layers of depth go down.

What Mays brings to the table on special teams (as is the case with Izzo) is ALL that matters. Nothing more.

 

[pats1]

Thinking now they could have kept Mills...

He'd be inactive.

The only way Mills would have made the 53 is if Evans had somehow worked his way off the 53. Mills is valuable because of his versatility - his ability to play at FB. So if there wasn't Evans, at least they'd have Mills to play at FB when the situation arose.

But with Evans, there's absolutely no room for Mills. The Pats tried to get him on the practice squad in case an injury to Evans, Watson, Brady, or Thomas (long-term) arose, but that never panned out as we know...

 

[patchick]

I'm astonished nobody has leapt on the conspiracy theory yet:

Rivers was re-signed and Thomas made to look likely to be available to lure the Jets into thinking the Pats were planning to use more 2-TE sets, then at the last possible moment they drop down to a roster with a minimum of TEs.

 

[PatsSteve1]

Thinking now they could have kept Mills...

BBioli took a chance with Mills and lost. It happens.