Patriots Cuts: Boyce, Bequette, Worthy, Beauharnais...

AzPatsFan said:

Cutting the LS Danny Aiken may be a move worthy of BB and genius. Now we know that Bill has had that in mind for awhile. He has had Ninkovitch, who was originally signed as a possible LS/LB, before he blossomed, and Ryan Wendell both practicing Long Snaps.

Everyone thought that was just BB covering for all possible emergencies, and didn't pay attention.

I think not. He knew that this Team had more depth and talent than ever before, and he would have problems getting down to 53. This strategem might save a talented player, long enough to find a place for him.

The only thing we don't know is who will be invited to the PS and who might be claimed on waivers. But I'll make a guess we'll lose some, and the PS will be still be stronger than most team's 46 through 53.

Despite the strengths, there are still talent weaknesses at reserve LB. The DL and OL need sorting out, but in both cases there is talent there, and must only be sorted out.

Now sit back and admire a Genius at Work...

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Oswlek said:

Not necessarily. It is still possible that any of them end up on the IR-return. Teams have to wait until Wednesday to designate that.

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ctpatsfan77 said:

BTW: one thought about Vellano (who might still end up a "hey, we picked up someone better than you" cut).

He may not be the best DL in the world, but he did win a job straight out of camp last year, and was seeing work in sub packages even in Week 1 when Wilfork and Kelly were both healthy.

No, you don't want him on the field 80–90% of the time, but he can be quite useful playing, say, 30% of snaps.

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bradyFTW! said:

If Wendell is a capable LS, maybe that can be his job.

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Fencer said:

Absolutely. The "practice squad" idea is a bit of a misnomer, in that coaches can practice. Perhaps there's a role against coaches practicing in full pads or something, but I've never seen reference to it.

My favorite example remains Tampa Bay head coach Gruden playing Rich Gannon on scout team before the Tampa Bay/Oakland Super Bowl.

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Wheelman said:

Was Gruden in pads?

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Urgent said:

He's not.
Most long snappers are around 260 pounds to quickly head downfield on the punt.

There's a big difference in demands on a shotgun snapper and long snapper.
The long snapper is also constantly working with the punter and kicker. The offensive line is working together on different drills.

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fnordcircle said:

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eric5577x said:

Only thing I can come up with now is NE goes 3-4 with Jones, Vince, Jones (just a name). Nink, Mayo, HT, Collins? IDK. 6 ST guys on this team: Harmon, Chung, Wilson, Ebner, Slater, White. I think 5 S at this time gives BB more time to evaluate, then one is gone when Browner is back..

They could of kept Cave if they wanted that lineman who can long snap, he can do both. Did so at ND. IDK...I think more is to come....

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fnordcircle said:

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DaBronxPats14 said:

Not really surprised here about Boyce being let go. I saw him as odd man out with Dobson & Brady getting more & more comfortable with KT. I thought Beauharnais had a good chance of Makin it as well as Tommy Kelly. BB isn't done yet.

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rookBoston said:

Not sure I read it the way you've laid it out...

(1) Safety. We are keeping 5 because they are the core to our ST unit. Wilson, Ebner and Chung will be the core ST unit. Their ST play also explains why we have fewer nominal LB and TE on the depth chart, who would otherwise be competing for snaps in the kicking game.

(2) Trading your LG to free cap space to extend one of the finest cornerbacks of his generation, and leverage the bench strength at OT that can flex inside. Fans are talking about RT, RG and LG because they're still shell shocked that BB is willing to trade a team captain without leaking the idea to the media beforehand. The guys who the Pats probably see as likely successors are players we're used to seeing listed as Inactive or Practice Squad. But my guess is that BB had zero interest in Boone, Incognito or any of the other random names that are swirling; that's just us.

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TheBostonStraggler said:

Even the mighty and omnipotent BB makes mistakes.
With that said, I'd like to give credit to the author/poster who penned (not verbatim) 'we should just cut all non superstars and field only All Pro players at every position'. That's a message that probably should be auto-posted on the 1st of every month, one that reminds fans that two guys who know little about NFL talent/potential, a lawyer and a CPA, have a say in determining the 53 man roster.

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ATippett56 said:

Tommy Kelly made the cut with the Arizona Cardinals while Isaac Sopoaga did not.

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