The Patriots roster as of 2/16/09

[Nestapats]

A quick look at Miguel's page tells me that they were the highest earning non-starters on the team. Aiken is right there as well, but I guess they chose to keep him over washington as the special team WR. Gotta open up some cap space one way or another...

Yeah but still, i think Washington was special on ST and Yates has started a lot of the games. But aiken over washington, i have my doubts...

 

[miDeuce]

Yeah but still, i think Washington was special on ST and Yates has started a lot of the games. But aiken over washington, i have my doubts...

He did make some great plays in his time here, but he was hurt alot as well. When you're as tight on cap room as the Pats are I guess these are the hard decisions you have to make. A great special teams player is ultimately expendable when you've got so many impact players on offense and defense up for new contracts at some point in the next year.

I wonder if they wanted Washington to contribute at WR as well but he couldn't crack the lineup? I remember seeing Aiken at WR more than Washington in 2008. I have to say, from what little bit we saw of Aiken last year I am intrigued by him, especially with his size.

 

[alvinnf]

Safety, OL, and CB, upgradeable.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Wow. Didn't see either of those coming. Between then, we've saved around 12% of Cassel's cap hit.

OTOH, there's an additional two holes to be filled, so it's a *bit* of a wash.

 

[mgteich]

I didn't hear that Washington was a leader on the special team units. Aiken should be able to fulfill that role at least as well.

Wow. Didn't see either of those coming. Between then, we've saved around 12% of Cassel's cap hit.

I'm not a Yates fan, but unless we resign Hochstein we need depth at OG. Washington was a great STer, and with Woods a RFA and Izzo a UFA (and aging, and with steroid issues hanging over him) I thought we needed his leadership of STs.