Daily Recap: New England Patriots News and Notes 9/6

Derek Havens

Sep 6, 2011 at 5:12pm ET

Follow @PatriotsHaven

My colleague Ian Logue helps start you off each day with his daily links entry, so in an effort to help fellow Patriots fans get caught up at the end of each day on what’s gone on with this football team, I’ll be offering a daily entry at the end of each day to help keep up with any news you may have missed. You can also follow me on Twitter to learn when it’s available.

The Patriots have set their sights for Sept. 12th's season opener against the Miami Dolphins. After roster cuts, a multitude of transactions, and a little less than a week before their first regular season game, there is no shortage of news. Here are some notes on the team and around the league on Tuesday:

• In the past 3 days, their has been a lot of changes to the Patriots roster. With all the moving parts, sometimes it's hard to make sense of it all. For my thoughts and analysis on the transactions, click here.

• The Patriots informed cornerback Darius Butler that they will be releasing him today. Shalise Manza Young of The Boston Globe report was confirmed by the third-year cornerback.

For more on this report, click here.

• I am definitely sad the Patriots decided to release Butler, but I understand the move. I really liked him coming out of the University of Connecticut and feel he can offer a lot to an NFL team. Perhaps with some development, scheme change, and a chance of scenery, he can have a fresh start on another roster. I would look at the New York Giants as a possible landing spot, after the club had a horrendous injury-plagued pre-season.

• New England will use Butler's roster spot to sign Tight End Dan Gronkowski, brother of Rob Gronkowski. Dan was originally drafted by the Lions in 2009 and then played in Denver during the 2010 season. Dan could fill in nicely as the third tight-end for the Patriots and the two brothers could be very entertaining this year.

• Mike Petraglia of WEEI has an interesting piece this afternoon on Chung, and wonders if now that James Sanders and Brandon Meriweather are one from the Patriots secondary, whether or not Chung could become a captain.  He points out that Chung andLeigh Bodden are the elder statesmen of secondary, but more importantly, Chung has become someone other safeties are looking toward for on-field guidance and off-field instruction.

• Patriots linebacker, Dane Fletcher, spent his Tuesday with the kids in the children's hospital . Fletcher, tweeted about his experience - “@Dane_Fletcher: Just left my visit with all my little friends at Children's Hospital Boston! #goodtimes”

• I caught up with safety Lawyer Milloy over the weekend. We talked for a few minutes and I asked if a return to New England was possible. His response, "Na", he said jokingly. It was clear to me there is still some bad blood between him and the Patriots.

• The Seattle Seahawks have had an incredible amount of turnover on their roster this season. Pete Carroll has essentially built an entire new roster. The team has 43 new players (out of 53) on their roster this season. It's clear Carroll was not happy with his 7 - 9 squad from last season, even if they snuck into the playoffs and stunned the New Orleans Saints.