Will Cyrus Jones make this team

[Oswlek]

I think I have a bit of Cyrus in me. I am an unbelievable pool player.. on my own
table. In public or anywhere where people might be watching? I get nerved up
and can't put my best foot forward. I suspect poor Cyrus and I have something
in common.

Back in college I was winning they best-of-three dorm ping-pong championship 21-15, 20-16. I proceeded to lose the next six points to drop the set and the first six points of the next set. In a single bad stretch I went from a dominant victory to a point away from being skunked. I fought back to 19-20 but blew the last point.

Then, on my honeymoon, I killed a few players the night before the cruise ping-pong tourney, one of which made it to the finals. The next morning, I overslept and was still groggy for the competition and lost to an awful guy who literally wouldn't have scored a point on me 14 hours prior.

Having that part Cyrus Jones in you sucks.

 

[Deus Irae]

I expect even more cuts to sign other teams cuts he likes better than his own.

What I've found interesting, and disappointing, this year is that, while the Patriots seemed to have plenty of depth and competition coming into camp, we're not really seeing many instances of players really pushing for a roster spot, IMO.

 

[Deus Irae]

So, best guess, how many of the aforementioned four?

Cyrus is most likely going to get another year to grow and work on his abilities. It's hard to imagine him getting axed as a 2nd round pick so quickly.

Ealy is almost a must now, with the departures of Ninkovich and Rivers. He also had two quality practices and a decent game last week.

Brissett, despite the unreasonably high standard that people seem to have for a guy still learning the offense in his 2nd year, would never make it through to the PS. That's not even bringing up the Garoppolo situation for next year.

Bolden, after hearing Belichick's comments about how his spot was never in danger last year, continues to receive praise and solidify his ST value. He could be the one that may get cut and brought back a couple days later, though.

The only reason Jones is even still around is that he was a 2nd round pick. If he was a low rounder/UDFA type, he'd be long gone. The question there is whether it will be BB's stubborn streak or his pragmatic side, that wins out, because a CB5/CB6 type who hasn't gotten it done on special teams is exactly the sort of player we'd normally expect to be reading out as an early New England cut.

I haven't commented much on Ealy, because I can't make a fair evaluation on him. Is he just coming along slowly, or is he 99% crap and 1% player? How much of his play has been because of suckage, and how much has been the team switch and commensurate style adjustments? Until I get a handle on that, I'm kicking the can down the road.

Bolden and Brissett seem like numbers problems, to me. A case can be made to cut, or keep, each of them. If I had to guess today, I'd say Brisset stays and Bolden gets "Thanks for all you've done for us, and definitely keep in touch" speech, but that's just my present take on what's likely a somewhat fluid situation.

 

[Mack Herron]

What I've found interesting, and disappointing, this year is that, while the Patriots seemed to have plenty of depth and competition coming into camp, we're not really seeing many instances of players really pushing for a roster spot, IMO.

Largely agree, especially WR, TE. Kenny Moore, Butler and Langi catch my eye.

 

[Simpelton]

Brissett's spot is not open to be filled by a non-quarterback. If you're cutting Brissett it's to somehow find a better QB3. A QB corps only 2 deep is begging for problems.

I mean for pity's sake, we managed to have all 3 QB's injured or otherwise unavailable just last year in game 4. We wound up with our QB3 playing with a broken thumb costing us a game because we were only 2 quarterbacks deep at the time and QB2 was also hurt. We didn't get through 4 games before only being 2 men deep at quarterback cost us a big loss. Who would want to be in that position for an entire 19 game season? Insanity.

 

[supafly]

Brissett's spot is not open to be filled by a non-quarterback. If you're cutting Brissett it's to somehow find a better QB3. A QB corps only 2 deep is begging for problems.

I mean for pity's sake, we managed to have all 3 QB's injured or otherwise unavailable just last year in game 4. We wound up with our QB3 playing with a broken thumb costing us a game because we were only 2 quarterbacks deep at the time and QB2 was also hurt. We didn't get through 4 games before only being 2 men deep at quarterback cost us a big loss. Who would want to be in that position for an entire 19 game season? Insanity.

While I agree that 3 QBs are necessary for the 2017 season and the uncertainty surrounding the future at the position, I really can't get behind your specific reasoning.

After all, this is a team who has normally chosen to carry 2 QBs in the high majority of years, and pointing to an anomaly like the 4 game Brady suspension as proof that they couldn't get by last year seems a bit weak. Just my opinion.

 

[supafly]

Largely agree, especially WR, TE. Kenny Moore, Butler and Langi catch my eye.

I think we've seen a pattern when it comes to the hype for the binky WRs and TEs during the summer. Personally, I don't see either Carr or Hollister making the cut.

It would've been nice to see more competition at the position of OL. That's the one that really needed someone to rise to a better level. Out of any position, that's the one I'm disappointed in, at least in terms of lack of competition for the final few spots.

Outside of that, the roster was pretty stacked, which was likely factored into the decision to spend a few draft picks on proven vets rather than raw rookies. Going through the positions, I'm not real sure where we would've expected many surprises? Maybe safety and the offensive line? Everything else was fairly set.

 

[50-yard-line]

I think we've seen a pattern when it comes to the hype for the binky WRs and TEs during the summer. Personally, I don't see either Carr or Hollister making the cut.

It would've been nice to see more competition at the position of OL. That's the one that really needed someone to rise to a better level. Out of any position, that's the one I'm disappointed in, at least in terms of lack of competition for the final few spots.

Outside of that, the roster was pretty stacked, which was likely factored into the decision to spend a few draft picks on proven vets rather than raw rookies. Going through the positions, I'm not real sure where we would've expected many surprises? Maybe safety and the offensive line? Everything else was fairly set.

Haven't seen much, but from everything I've read, Karras has stepped up nicely.

 

[mgteich]

Dante and Bill seem fine with the OL that he brought back. Karras was one question mark; he has stepped up. The other question was OT future. We used 4 draftees to secure 2 players. Dante was OK with competition for backup OT.

My bottom line is that the team was satisfied with what we had, and used resources elsewhere.

I think we've seen a pattern when it comes to the hype for the binky WRs and TEs during the summer. Personally, I don't see either Carr or Hollister making the cut.

It would've been nice to see more competition at the position of OL. That's the one that really needed someone to rise to a better level. Out of any position, that's the one I'm disappointed in, at least in terms of lack of competition for the final few spots.

Outside of that, the roster was pretty stacked, which was likely factored into the decision to spend a few draft picks on proven vets rather than raw rookies. Going through the positions, I'm not real sure where we would've expected many surprises? Maybe safety and the offensive line? Everything else was fairly set.

 

[patriot1136]

When is the first round of cuts? interested to see what happens.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

When is the first round of cuts? interested to see what happens.

Gone. It's all one cut now, down to 53. We won't know for a few more weeks.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Gone. It's all one cut now, down to 53. We won't know for a few more weeks.

This is going to both hurt and help the Pats. I highly doubt that the Pats sign anyone cut on Saturday, before their game on Thursday. However, for those that remain unsigned after Thursday, the Pats are in the driver's seat as far as veterans are concerned, because they don't have another game for 10 days, so while everyone else (aside from KC) will still have not played their first game, the Pats can go out and sign a veteran and his salary won't be guaranteed, because he wasn't on the roster week one.

 

[Simpelton]

While I agree that 3 QBs are necessary for the 2017 season and the uncertainty surrounding the future at the position, I really can't get behind your specific reasoning.

After all, this is a team who has normally chosen to carry 2 QBs in the high majority of years, and pointing to an anomaly like the 4 game Brady suspension as proof that they couldn't get by last year seems a bit weak. Just my opinion.

If there wasn't a suggestion that the Patriots were playing for perfection this year I might agree with that. As is, we need to be able to deal with some attrition in our quarterback ranks without racking up automatic losses.

Week 4 wasn't really in any way meaningful, it didn't cost us anything in the playoffs or the division. But it was our first loss of the season, which instantly destroyed any chance of perfection this year (we only lost 1 other game, so it's something to think about), and it was an auto-loss because we did not have a healthy quarterback to throw out there in that game. That feels like something to avoid.

if perfection is seen as plausible enough to plan for, the ability to deal with one or more significant injuries at the quarterback position is something you'd better plan around. It's one thing having QB2 or QB3 out there in a big moment due to injury, at least those guys know the playbook and can manage the game and if you've done your job right, you're still in with a chance, as Cassel demonstrated in 08. it's another to put a tight end under center or start canvassing the local Popeyes for talent because you didn't stack your roster well.

 

[supafly]

If there wasn't a suggestion that the Patriots were playing for perfection this year I might agree with that. As is, we need to be able to deal with some attrition in our quarterback ranks without racking up automatic losses.

Week 4 wasn't really in any way meaningful, it didn't cost us anything in the playoffs or the division. But it was our first loss of the season, which instantly destroyed any chance of perfection this year (we only lost 1 other game, so it's something to think about), and it was an auto-loss because we did not have a healthy quarterback to throw out there in that game. That feels like something to avoid.

if perfection is seen as plausible enough to plan for, the ability to deal with one or more significant injuries at the quarterback position is something you'd better plan around.

Again, I'm certainly down with the idea of carrying 3 QBs, just not for the reasons you're listing.

The only people talking about "perfection" are some morons (us) on an internet messageboard. The team has won 17+ games four separate times in the BB/Brady era, and the only real shot they had at perfection was during the last game in '07. It's never happened before and all of the talk in the locker room from Brady, Edelman, Gronk, and Belichick is about how silly the idea is.

I think you need to carry Brissett as a developmental QB because of the uncertainty next year, as well as the fact that he'd likely never clear waivers.

 

[supafly]

Dante and Bill seem fine with the OL that he brought back. Karras was one question mark; he has stepped up. The other question was OT future. We used 4 draftees to secure 2 players. Dante was OK with competition for backup OT.

My bottom line is that the team was satisfied with what we had, and used resources elsewhere.

Well, like I said though, the disappointment lies in the lack of talent/depth in the final few spots.

It's great to see Karras step up as the 6th OL, but I would have liked to have seen more competition for Fleming, as well as some actual progress for Garcia. Those situations have been somewhat disappointing.

This post was also made prior to the return of Solder, so that obviously helps.