What I meant here is that this week (and possibly the next month of October) is not going to be just about the 2 spots for Brady and Ninko (and hopefully Lewis soon) .. it seems like evaluation of the roster combined with injury situation before the season starts anew with Brady
Here are the three early morning articles as an intro to this discussion .. talking about reality check (especially of the D), analysis of snap count and use (and health) of Gronk:
Pats Posits: We’re On to Tom Brady
Snap counts: Gronkowski and Hightower see serious time vs Bills
Rob Gronkowski's production will rise once he's utilized less as blocker
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Maybe the most transparent way to go about here is by positions:
@QB
Brady is back (probably at Gillette already). And many good things with him. There are no real Q here I guess .. but it will be interesting to see how the first games go in the aftermath of suspension. To put it simple: how quickly it starts clicking. Let's hope for his good start in Cleveland that would set him nicely for the rough part of the schedule immediately to follow .. and erase the strange experience of last months that took some toll on his nerves and pride - shown at times in the preseason incl. the Giants game). This was not an easy situation and lets keep in mind its not easy to erase it over night.
Garoppolo should be back to health in a couple of weeks and serve as a great back-up option.
Brissett - there are some ? about him going forward: 1) does this team needs 3 QBs; 2) how to best deal with his injury (some “reports“ suggesting a possibility of medical “procedure“); 3) what is best combination of team needs and rookie QB development.
@RB
Blount answered many Q here. Hope what looked like a hurt hip or higher leg at one point in the game yesterday is nothing serious. The Q that I have here is the very heavy workload for Blount and pretty marginal use of anybody else.
White saw more snaps yesterday but most of them came in the 4th quarter after the game was given already (and after Blount “injury“ - he did come back for some snaps after it).
The big Q comes after them - who will be the back-up, at least untill Lewis returns?
Bolden's injury looked quite serious,
DJ Foster was healthy scratch 3 times and was projected by many to be cut this week. My feeling is they keep him until
Lewis returns in a couple of weeks time hopefuly. The Q is do they use him? Or they bring
Sankey from PS?
Another interesting development last week was bringing
Reece for workout. Will they bring him in?
EDIT: Like our UptownPF suggested if Bolden is out this would make a lot of sense.
@WR
A thin but solid group with two guys - we don't know much about - on PS. With Brady they will start functioning to their potential. I am sorry we didn't keep
Martin who would be a great back up in case of injuries - and also to the struggling kick return. It was a small bummer to lose Street from PS. It was a minor (but welcome) shock to cut ties with many WR prospects here and FO is clearly in the hunt for some credible WR back-ups since they continue bringing many WRs for workouts.
@TE
Bennett is a gem on and off the field .. blocking, receiving or running.
Gronk is still a Q. Reiss in the article above is arguing that his due is mainly due to tactical decisions not his hamstring condition .. though there are many indications (on the field but also in some of his words) that he is not close to unleash himself yet. A thing to monitor in the next days for sure.
Harbor's use diminished to the point that he was not on the field at all yesterday on O and was not used a lot (if at all) on STs for the first time (he was close to core ST in the two previous weeks). That would indicate the team is not comfortable with him and is a serious candidate to be cut sooner or later .. especially since they signed
Scruggs - and cut Hughes and A Johnson in the process - so I guess they might be serious about him (he can be used on DL and ST as well).
Derby at least saw the field yesterday (only for a taste) but with Brissett-oriented game plan it was not likely he could be a factor. He has no ST value and (unlike Harbor) has PS eligibility but is IMO unlikely to clear waivers so it will be interesting if they keep him anyway for a while.
@OL
Waddle was a healthy scratch last 3 weeks and never saw the field this season. He is obviously the #4 tackle and probably cannot back up any other position. Many see him as a roster cut this week .. and a possible “shadow roster“ candidate in the next period. The fact that they did not activate him for the tough battle with Bills with Cannon coming from limited practice week also doesn't bode well. The only thing that can keep him on the roster is the fact that there are only 8 healthy OL at the moment incl. him and that
Karras is a rookie eligible for PS. He is still very rough but can back up center and both guards.
The other Q is
Cooper and his injury. I guess this week will finally tell us more about his status. Id be surprised if he is cut - since they paid him all his money for the season already and also Dante was high on him putting him clearly in the starting OL at the beginning of TC. If they put him on IR it probably means both Karras and Waddle stay (at least for a while).
@DL
Certainly the position to monitor closely in the next days. After last week's roster
extravaganza (cuting both A Johnson and Hughes) and the injury to
Valentine (back; left to locker room) this position that seemed so deep in the preseason suddenly is very thin. Brown saw close to 65% of the snaps which is far above normal (usually well below 50%) and Branch 58%. This will have to change.
Many Q here: some bodies have to come back here (
A Johnson?,
Hughes?) and in case of Valentine's injury maybe even former cuts like
Kuhn or
Knighton can get a second chance? (going by the preseason they offer much more in rotation then
Hamilton currently on PS)
@DE
It will be interesting how they evaluate DE play especially pass rush but also play against a RB like McCoy since this should be one of the crucial aspects going against DEN, PIT & NYJ. In general Sheard, Long and Flowers did a good job but yesterday they did struggle somewhat.
Ninko is coming back,
Scruggs might come into play for this position. What I am most curious about is if they start using some
Mingo in the next phase of the season.
@LB
I think that Hightower and
McClellin are still not at 100%.
Freeny is solid back up, looks better than last year.
The Q in the next week is
E Roberts who was a healthy scratch 1st and last week. With Ninko coming back he would be the obvious cut now - but I feel BB really likes him and maybe doesn't want to lose him on waivers.
@CB
Some saw this as extremely deep and talented position in preseason but a lot of Q here in my view:
Coleman is up and down (also on snap count),
Cyrus doesn't look fully ready to start either and
Rowe hurt his ankle upon arrival. He was practicing last long week in some limited capacity so I do hope he can be available soon to boost the competition not only at CB but also on ST.
But first of all I hope to hear soon
Butler is OK.
@S
McCourty and Chung are rocks. But they are always on the field. It seems they trust
Richards less than last year to take some load off of Chung. Also his role on ST diminished. He was a 2nd rd pick and seemed BB's darling but it is nevertheless an interesting position to monitor.
I was surprised to see so little of
Harmon on the field yesterday, also less snaps on ST. Hope nothing to it.
@ST
This is a snap count from Hills article:
Ebner (21), Mingo (21), Jones (21), King (16), Slater (16), Bolden (15), Harmon (10), Freeny (10), Richards (10).
If
Bolden's injury is serious that means there is no way
King goes although his role seems to change/diminish this year. The rest of the core group is very solid. The only player to fall out of the core group this week was
Harbor (played 75% of St snaps last week. I guess that's telling.
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Bottom line: this week (and a few next) is not going to be only about 2 cuts for TB and Ninko but about the final phase of 2016 Patriots roster building that might bring quite a few shake ups ..
