I posted one a few weeks ago that's nearly identical to this one; the only real change from the preseason game is I've replaced Stephen Anderson with Ryan Izzo for blocking specialist purposes.
QB (3): 12 Brady, 2 Hoyer, 4 Stidham
RB (6): 26 Michel, 28 White, 34 Burkhead, 37 Harris, 38 Bolden, 46 Develin
WR (5): 13 Dorsett, 16 Meyers, 82 Harris, 8 Harry, 14 Berrios
TE (3): 83 LaCosse, 81 Kendricks, 85 Izzo
OL (8): 72 Skipper, 62 Thuney, 60 Andrews, 69 Mason, 61 Cannon, 76 Wynn, 75 Karras, 64 Froholdt
DL (5): 77 Bennett, 93 Guy, 98 Pennel, 71 Shelton, 70 Butler
EDGE (4): 91 Wise, 55 Simon, 95 Rivers, 50 Winovich
LB (5): 54 Hightower, 8 Collins, 53 Van Noy, 51 Bentley, 52 Roberts
CB (5): 24 Gilmore, 30 McCourty, 31 Jones, 27 Jackson, 33 Williams
S (4): 32 McCourty, 23 Chung, 21 Harmon, 25 Brooks
ST (5): 3 Gostkowski, 7 Bailey, 49 Cardona, 18 Slater, 36 King
PUP/NFI/Susp (8): 1 Meredith, 10 Gordon, 11 Edelman, 43 Ebner, 47 Webster, 65 Cajuste, 84 Watson, 88 Thomas
- The best case for QB is Hoyer miraculously plays himself into having trade value while Stidham continues to look at least roughly on his level.
- The moment Edelman becomes a full participant, I'm replacing Berrios with him. It sure would be nice for WR reinforcements to slowly trickle in over the season (Meredith, Gordon, Thomas specifically). That way, the offense can figure out how to live without them if and when it happens again.
- On the note of PUP/NFI, I expect Edelman and Ebner to return by week 1 and be on the 53. Not sure what Cajuste's deal is but his spot is safe once healthy. We should ideally have 9 OL, not 8, but keeping 8 now ensures Cajuste that spot.
- Not sure what the deal with Pennel is but I'm not changing my projections based on recent speculation about him quite yet.
- I wonder if Wise has the lowest upside of all those edge players. Note that I consider Bennett (and Calhoun, who was close to making this projection) DL because they slide inside to DT more often than they stand up as OLBs.
- I was starting to worry about Bentley having a quiet camp after the injury but he looked like his old self (coincidentally last seen in Detroit 2018) on Thursday.
- I don't even know if I'd want Dawson on the practice squad at this point. I would definitely want to keep Crossen on the PS, if not find room on the 53.
- Obi is a tough cut but our top 3 safeties are ironmen and Brooks looks capable with the added ST ace factor making him a lock regardless of what we do with Obi.
- Positions we could trade away: RB, EDGE, LB, CB (specifically Jones)
- Positions we could trade for: WR, TE, T, DL, S
I know we've only seen one preseason game that was out of control from the start, but it's hard not to feel like this team is as complete + healthy in August as it's been in years (knock on wood).
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