2019 Roster Turnover

[Urgent]

The Patriots had the largest amount of roster turnover in a long time with 23 new players, compared to Labor Day weekend 2018. That doesn't count players on suspensions like Watson and Kendricks, or players on NFI or short-term IR like Harry or Meredith.

23 is a lot of a 53 man roster, and the most since I looked back five or six years. The 2018 Patriots had 14 new players on their Labor Day roster. But other years have seen 20 or 21 new players as well. The Patriots really turn over the roster each year.

Let's look at some of the changes:

QB
In: Jarrett Stidham
Out: Brian Hoyer

RB
In: Damien Harris, Brandon Bolden
Out: Jeremy Hill

WR
In: Josh Gordon, Demaryius Thomas, Jakobi Meyers, Gunner Olszewski
Out: Chris Hogan, Cordarrelle Patterson, Riley McCaron, Chad Hanson

TE
In: Matt LaCosse, Ryan Izzo
Out: Rob Gronkowski, Dwayne Allen, Jacob Hollister

OL
In: Isaiah Wynn, Korey Cunningham, Jermaine Eluemunor, Russell Bodine
Out: Trent Brown, LaAdrian Waddle, David Andrews, Brian Schwenke

DL
In: Byron Cowart, Michael Bennet
Out: Malcom Brown, Trey Flowers, Adrian Clayborne

Edge/LB
In: Chase Winovich, John Simon, Jamie Collins, Shalique Calhoun
Out: Derek Rivers, Keionte Davis, Nicholas Grigsby, Geneo Grissom

CB
In: Joejuan Williams
Out: Eric Rowe, Keion Crossen, Duke Dawson

Safety
In: Terrence Brooks, Obi Melofonwu
Out: Brandon King

Punter
In: Jake Bailey
Out: Ryan Allen

 

[BelichickFan]

Thanks for that. Other than TE, a lot of big wins there.

 

[RobertWeathers]

They went 11-5.

It was a down year.

 

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Wonder if it’s normal for a Super Bowl champ to turn over 40+% of its roster the following year.

 

[farn]

I like the changes. TE is an obvious “loss” and you could make a case the OL is worse, mostly on account of losing Andrews (though if Wynn shines as much as we all hope, it’ll be more than fine).

Most excited about the potential upgrades at WR & RB. RB has been a strength in NE for several years and if the Alabama product is on his game, it could rise even more.

 

[Ring 6]

They went 11-5.

It was a down year.

I think this has been overlooked which is surprising around here.
It was the worst regular season in a long time both by record and by playing some really bad games.
Bb did a tremendous job of hiding the weaknesses and letting the strengths carry us to a championship but upgrading some of those weaknesses really was necessary.

I think he got most of them, but others may have been created.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I think this has been overlooked which is surprising around here.
It was the worst regular season in a long time both by record and by playing some really bad games.
Bb did a tremendous job of hiding the weaknesses and letting the strengths carry us to a championship but upgrading some of those weaknesses really was necessary.

I think he got most of them, but others may have been created.

I hate to sound like a spoiled brat but the team had weaknesses and was not one of the strongest NEP teams talent-wise.

Thankfully they still had great players, great coaches and knew how to win when it mattered vs teams who didnt.

 

[Ring 6]

I hate to sound like a spoiled brat but the team had weaknesses and was not one of the strongest NEP teams talent-wise.

Thankfully they still had great players, great coaches and knew how to win when it mattered vs teams who didnt.

Individual talent level doesnt win but the more talent you have the easier it is.

 

[captain stone]

Those that are Out who I wished had stayed In:
- Hoyer, Waddle, Dawson

Those that are In who I wish had stayed Out:
- LaCost, Roberts, Ebner

 

[DarrylS]

By my count there are 22 different players on this roster this year, that is over 40% turnover...

BB knows what he has and what he needs..

Closely related while out and about yesterday doing errands, overheard on the Radio... "Is K'Neal Harry a bust??" on both local sportstalk radio stations.. WTF so now if a 1st round pick gets hurt in a sport where a lot of folks get hurt, that is the criteria for success or failure of that pick??

Wish someone anyone would try discuss the Pats intelligently instead of trying to "gin up" some faux controversy... Sportstalk used to inform, now it enters into the realm of hysteria...

 

[moosekill]

Those that are Out who I wished had stayed In:
- Hoyer, Waddle, Dawson

Those that are In who I wish had stayed Out:
- LaCost, Roberts, Ebner

So you wish Dawson stayed because he wasn’t very good and you like the Patriots to not do well?

 

[Crazy Patriot Guy]

Those that are Out who I wished had stayed In:
- Hoyer, Waddle, Dawson

Those that are In who I wish had stayed Out:
- LaCost, Roberts, Ebner

So you wish we had 1 TE?

 

[Sicilian]

Wasn't John Simon on the team last year?

Also, if you're going to count Jeremy Hill as Out (having barely played for us at the beginning of the year), then you shouldn't count Josh Gordon as In.

Edit: I get the overall theme though, just nitpicking

 

[RobertWeathers]

By my count there are 22 different players on this roster this year, that is over 40% turnover...

BB knows what he has and what he needs..

Closely related while out and about yesterday doing errands, overheard on the Radio... "Is K'Neal Harry a bust??" on both local sportstalk radio stations.. WTF so now if a 1st round pick gets hurt in a sport where a lot of folks get hurt, that is the criteria for success or failure of that pick??

Wish someone anyone would try discuss the Pats intelligently instead of trying to "gin up" some faux controversy... Sportstalk used to inform, now it enters into the realm of hysteria...

You heard Harry was a bust on the radio? Shocked I say. Shocked!

 

[Urgent]

Wasn't John Simon on the team last year?

Also, if you're going to count Jeremy Hill as Out (having barely played for us at the beginning of the year), then you shouldn't count Josh Gordon as In.

Edit: I get the overall theme though, just nitpicking

Pure comparison of opening day to opening day. Wait for the small number of transactions that normally happen within 48 hours of the cut to 53. So players that they picked up mid-year and retain would be new relative to opening day 2018. If you include players added in-season, I guess you'd want to project who they might trade for or add during the coming year. So this approach is a simple methodology.

 

[Sicilian]

Pure comparison of opening day to opening day. Wait for the small number of transactions that normally happen within 48 hours of the cut to 53. So players that they picked up mid-year and retain would be new relative to opening day 2018. If you include players added in-season, I guess you'd want to project who they might trade for or add during the coming year. So this approach is a simple methodology.

Gotcha, thank you for the clarification.

 

[captain stone]

So you wish we had 1 TE?

When ALL of your TEs suck...then Yes.

 

[patfanken]

I find this take extremely interesting. Nice work, Urgent.

While no one seems to be looking or even particularly interested Bill has calmly turned over his Superbowl winning team by 43% Two points.

1. This should have been a headline article from everyone on the Pats media beat, and no one even noticed? (including me). There are so many takes and story lines that you could go on just based on this small stat. "The loss of players that come with winning a Superbowl". or "The flaws Bill saw during the regular season that he needed to see fixed". "How Bill took a flawed team to a championship and what he did to try and fix it." Or the even easier story of "Bill is never satisfied, and not sitting on his laurels". "Comparing the turnover rate of all the playoff teams." is another story I would have liked to have read. Or "Comparing turnover rates of Superbowl champions and what it means". I keep adding ones as I write this. It's so easy.

For a media that is constantly looking for content, they seemed to have missed the ball on this one?

2. Bill has long pounded into us the fact that every season gives us a completely DIFFERENT football team. Each one that seems to have a different personality and identity. So because you won or lost against this team in the past has ZERO affect on what will happen in the future. And this leads me to a pet peeve of mine. "The easiest schedule in the league" excuse.

This has been a meme of several media outlets that are trying to explain why the Pats have been so dominant for so long. It's kind of new but has picked up some steam and is gaining on the old favorite "they get to play against the AFCE".

But here's the thing that should be highlighted by what Urgent has shown us. EVERY team that the Pats play THIS year is 35-45% DIFFERENT than the team that had the record that makes up the stat of who has the easiest schedule. This fact, which never seems to get mentioned, makes the "schedule meme" meaningless. Hence my peeve.

Thanks for listening.

 

[Hyped]

I hate to sound like a spoiled brat but the team had weaknesses and was not one of the strongest NEP teams talent-wise.

Thankfully they still had great players, great coaches and knew how to win when it mattered vs teams who didnt.

I agree that 11-5 was a "down year"...but remember the small things like:

a.) Making ONE ST tackle @ Miami.

b.) Brady making one of the dumbest throws of his career @ Pittsburgh.

c.) Looking ahead to the BYE week @Nashville and being uncharacteristically terrible @ Detroit.

The only legit loss was @ Jacksonville...we wilted in the heat down there and got our asses beat. But if you flip any of those 4 games...we are 12-4...the best record in the AFC.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I agree that 11-5 was a "down year"...but remember the small things like:

a.) Making ONE ST tackle @ Miami.

b.) Brady making one of the dumbest throws of his career @ Pittsburgh.

c.) Looking ahead to the BYE week @Nashville and being uncharacteristically terrible @ Detroit.

The only legit loss was @ Jacksonville...we wilted in the heat down there and got our asses beat. But if you flip any of those 4 games...we are 12-4...the best record in the AFC.

When evaluating the roster I don't think it's helpful to look at it like that. There are a handful of plays every game that tip the scales in either direction. You could easily argue they could have gone 10-6 or possibly 9-7 as KC and CHI were very close games.

Fact is they had a beat up TE, were void of talent at WR and thin at OLB and DE.

They needed more talent to provide more cushion in tight games.