Patriots Player Departure OFFICIAL 2025 Patriots roster cutdown day discussion / tracker

[Family]

I just saw that Baker chose the Eagles PS over the Pats and others. Strange chose to move on too. Vrabel is not winning everyone over.

Or like the Andrew twins along with every captain from last year except Peppers, Vrabel wants to purge everyone from the past.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Eh, I didn't like him at the time of the pick. Not that he wasn't worth a flyer. Just that the few sources I had noted he needed better route trees. At the NFL level, you GOT to be a top route runner out of college. The timing isn't as loose as it is in college, because the coverage windows are smaller. The receiver REALLY has to be PRECISELY where the QB expects him WHEN he expects him.

 

[Ross12]

Philly is an interesting destination for him. They are set for now but I don't think AJ Brown will be there much longer, and their WR depth is not the best beyond the top shelf. Hence the trade for Metchie, etc. Maybe he can develop enough to take over a depth spot there on their PS.

 

[Family]

Philly is an interesting destination for him. They are set for now but I don't think AJ Brown will be there much longer, and their WR depth is not the best beyond the top shelf. Hence the trade for Metchie, etc. Maybe he can develop enough to take over a depth spot there on their PS.

I think Vrabel has it right. Any future is as a gunner.

Baker is a jag as WR.

 

[DoubleDeluxe]

Man we are sure spending a lot of time dissecting this.
He was no good here
He didn't show anything receiving wise last year and this preseason to think he will succeed in the future.
He chose Philly over us, probably because he thinks he has a better chance getting on the 53 there.
Wish him well.

 

[40yrpatsfan]

I for one am sorry to lose him. Would not surprise me at all to see him emerge by next year as a viable WR. But we do have a couple of other guys with as much potential as him on the PS already.

 

[signbabybrady]

I went off so many "insiders" who said Baker showed a lot of talent and promise and physical traits, etc... So I held out hope, but I NEVER saw even one element of that on the field at ANY time. We didn't loose anything here. He couldn't even out-preform Webb in a preseason game where he was targeted like 8 times and couldn't do a dang thing. We all knew Polk & Baker wouldn't be on the field this year, it was just a matter of how it all went down. Polk gets free money on IR to feel like he's still in the NFL, but he's done too.

I never fell for it with Baker or saw much either but I did think Polk looked decent last summer and thought he'd do something as a rookie. So I don't think that gives me any high ground there.

 

[signbabybrady]

I graduated high school in 2005, and we were basically the last class to graduate before social media exploded. I remember the last couple of months of my senior year; a few girls were talking about Myspace. Then, fast forward only 6 months, and roughly 75% of the people my age had a Myspace page. Facebook came along a year or so later, and at first, it was a nice way to keep up with your high school friends and a quick way to learn about people you met in college. I don’t think many people at the time could have foreseen what it would devolve into now. Other countries are weaponizing different platforms to influence and corrupt elections, bullying, spreading hate, disinformation, and using it as a tool for human trafficking, etc.

I don’t think we have even seen the worst of it yet. I don't know if you have seen the movie Mountainhead. It isn't a great movie, but the overall premise is that the world devolves into total chaos because no one can discern if what they're seeing online is real or AI, and of course, some billionaires weaponize the situation to gain more power. My dad is in his mid-60s and routinely asks me about things he sees or reads on Facebook. Mostly all harmless, like he read that Tom Brady is buying the Patriots and will be their coach and shows me some crappy AI photo of him in a hoodie on the sideline, but it’s a concerning glimpse into how easy it is to fool people via AI and social media.

I thought that movie was called Idiocracy lol

 

[signbabybrady]

Man we are sure spending a lot of time dissecting this.
He was no good here
He didn't show anything receiving wise last year and this preseason to think he will succeed in the future.
He chose Philly over us, probably because he thinks he has a better chance getting on the 53 there.
Wish him well.

I was just so ready to get up out of this wheelchair.

 

[Ross12]

I was just so ready to get up out of this wheelchair.

Local paraplegics in shambles

 

[The Gr8est]

In an ideal world we wouldn't make drafting mistakes, but it can be seen as a good sign that we don't stick with them once we realize they are mistakes. In this case we cut a 4th rounder but kept a UDFA we liked better. To me it's a good sign that the front office isn't high on its own supply.

It reminds me of the old saying, "marry in haste, repent in leisure"...

We got Danny Woodhead because the Rats chose to cut the UDFA who could play in order to keep the 3rd round pick who couldn’t.

 

[The Gr8est]

I think Vrabel has it right. Any future is as a gunner.

Baker is a jag as WR.

Any future Baker had was likely damaged by being drafted by the Pats and spending his first year under Mayo.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Or like the Andrew twins along with every captain from last year except Peppers, Vrabel wants to purge everyone from the past.

David Andrews was waived with a failed physical. Physically David was done, I hope the injuries dont haunt him throughout life.

 

[Grogan14]

Baker is a JAG. End of story. Guys like him are a dime a dozen off the waiver wire.
Good bye and good riddance.

 

[Mike the Brit]

David Andrews was waived with a failed physical. Physically David was done, I hope the injuries dont haunt him throughout life.

Well, yes ("released" rather than "waived", to be pedantic) but he was re-habbing a shoulder injury, so, of course, he couldn't pass a physical and be ready to play in the middle of the off-season. He thought that he could recover and play, though.

 

[Family]

David Andrews was waived with a failed physical. Physically David was done, I hope the injuries dont haunt him throughout life.

Well, yes ("released" rather than "waived", to be pedantic) but he was re-habbing a shoulder injury, so, of course, he couldn't pass a physical and be ready to play in the middle of the off-season. He thought that he could recover and play, though.

I'm not sure what's up with David Andrews health, but from what I remember he was not on board with being done.

 

[zydecochris]

I will go out on a limb and say something like this happened:

1. Vrabel told Baker that he will make the initial 53 but will be cut afterwards and sent to the PS, they just want to hold him for a day to shield him from the initial wave of claims
2. Baker got pissed that he wasn't going to really make the 53 and wiped his social media, tipping off the rest of the league that he isn't long for the roster anyway
3. This pissed off Vrabel, so even though he cleared waivers, Vrabel said "screw him" and didn't put him back on the PS
4. His overreaction may have factored into teams not putting in a claim, as a back-of-roster player is not worth the hassle of dealing with that drama

It's also possible that Baker himself chooses not to go to the Patriots PS since that requires player consent anyway.

I've posted enough of Baker's shenanigans at Alabama (focusing on the way his Dad would constantly yell at Nick Saban because Saban was starting others in front of his clearly more talented son), plus the stand up from your wheelchair thing, etc. I wish him well, and he does have talent, and there have been plenty of other over-confident diva WRs with very successful NSF careers.

However, this last chapter still gives me a chuckle. Most WRs who haven't been able to make a team (say, someone like Chism if he had missed the 53, or John Giles) would decide either to join the practice squad of: i) the team where you missed the 53, because at least you know the system and they know you; or ii) a different practice squad for a team that has an extremely weak bunch of WRs, because the competition will be much weaker. The goal for most: joining a Practice Squad where you have the greatest chance of making the 53.

Baker decides to join the Eagles practice squad (with two AL ex WR teammates in Devonte Smith and John Metchie, maybe they were pals, I don't know). A recent ESPN ranking of 2025 WR groups had NE as 26th, clearly an improvement from last year, but still near the bottom of the league, and Philadelphia as....2nd.

Well, if he makes the Eagle 53, one can't say that he took any shortcuts

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

I'm not sure what's up with David Andrews health, but from what I remember he was not on board with being done.

I love D Andrews, but being undersized with a bad shoulder = he is done.

 

[Zuma]

I love D Andrews, but being undersized with a bad shoulder = he is done.

He’s also 33 yo

 

[Mike the Brit]

I love D Andrews, but being undersized with a bad shoulder and getting on the wrong side of Eliot Wolf? = he is done.