Matt Lengel and Caleb Kidder cut.

[1960Pats]

No, he never excelled at rushing the passer.

To be fair, he was never given the opportunity.

 

[maineman209]

I didn't see that originally. Kidder was unavailable for the game anyway.

No worries. Most media denizens simply reported (tweeted) Lengel and Kidder as being "released." I follow Mike Reiss and Miguel (patscap) almost exclusively on twitter. Reiss usually waits to report until he has the official terms of a release, and Miguel is relentless (though respectful) about correcting the inaccuracies tweeted by others. While others are scrambling to be "first", Reiss and Miguel do their homework.

 

[maineman209]

With Kidder now gone, the Pats have four players who are designated as defensive ends; Flowers who is a legitimate starter, Wise who is a rookie recovering from a concussion, Davis who is a rookie with a bulging disc in his neck and Grissom who is primarily a special teamer. I hope BB has something in mind to shore up this area.

Butler, Guy, Hightower and Van Noy will likely all be contributing to getting pressure off the edges. McLellin, too, if/when he gets healthy. Langi also may well get some licks in as he develops over the course of the season.

Most of these guys are also very capable of generating pressure up the middle, which is equally important. While BB may still bring in a guy, especially if McLellin can't go, I don't see a desperate need simply because they have only two players "designated" as DE.

In the Pats scheme, it's never really about positional designations. It's about having solid versatile players at different positions who can help disguise where the pressure is coming from.

 

[maineman209]

Does the roster now number 87? That means 34 to go plus more if they pick up or trade for additional player(s).

Realistically, with Rivers and Edelman headed to IR, it's 32. Jelks and Keionta Davis are both highly likely to be headed to Reserve/NFI, so probably 30.