FOXBORO, MA — Former Patriot receiver and local favorite Sean Morey was seen this morning hanging his things back up in his old locker, the same one he had to clean out earlier this year after being cut at the beginning of the season.
Morey was re-signed to the practice squad today by his former team, and head coach Bill Belichick said during his press conference Wednesday that he may see some time on defense, as well as on offense and special teams.
“We plan on using him on defense, playing receiver, and also in the phases of the kicking game. That’s what I talked to him about. I talked to him about that about a week or so ago, and I talked to him about that this morning. That’s what we’re going to do.”
“I think he may have an opportunity to provide some depth for us and utilize his versatility. We’ll see how that works out, I know he did a little bit of that last year.”
Morey made the team last year after teaming up with quarterback and fellow draft choice Michael Bishop for several big receptions during preseason. He was released after their first regular season game against the Jets last year and spent most of last season on the practice squad, working on the scout teams and helping his team prepare for each game. He finally was moved up to the active roster and saw action on special teams during the final two games, and after Belichick was named head coach Morey spent the offseason playing over in NFL Europe for the Barcelona Dragons trying to show he had a place on the team. But in the end unfortunately when the final cut down was made, Morey fell victim to numbers as there was simply not enough room to keep him.
As a matter of fact, Belichick said Wedesday that if he had been able to keep Morey, the former Brown University standout would have had a spot on the roster.
“He has a good attitude, he works hard, and he was a guy that as I said at the end of preseason, if we could have kept more players he would have been one of the guys we would have kept,” said Belichick. ” But we were limited by numbers. A few things have come by in the last few weeks and I just feel like he’s a guy we want to try and spend a little more time with.”
Apparently Morey did enough during that time to make Belichick want to give him another opportunity. Morey spent some time working on defense last season on the practice squad, and Belichick said that he sees some potential for Morey in the secondary and will give him a look there.
“He’s got some quickness,” said Belichick. “When you watch him hold up guys on the punt return team there’s some defensive skills there. But in talking to the coaches that were here last year like Duane [Walker, defensive assistant]and Ivan [Fears, receivers coach], he did some of that last year and they said he did a decent job at it for not much practice.”
“I mean I don’t have any illusions of him starting at corner next week, I’m not saying that. But a guy that could play in the kicking game, that could be one of your extra defensive backs, that could be one of your extra receivers and can give you some depth on your team and play a couple of different spots. That’s an opportunity for a guy to establish a role for himself. That’s what we’ll look at. He may just be able to establish a role for himself as a receiver and on special teams, I wouldn’t rule that out either.”
Meanwhile Morey is simply happy to be back with the team, and is exicted about having a chance to contribute, regardless as to which side of the ball he’s on.
“I’m just happy I’m here and getting a chance to play ball,” said Morey. “I’ve been at home, I’ve been working, I’ve been training, and it’s a torture on Sunday to watch [the team play]. So just a chance to play ball is something naturally I’m looking forward to.”
“Honestly I’m excited about [playing on defense], I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. I did it alot last year, I played scout team corner when we had some guys banged up and I had a blast. I think it will be a lot of fun.”
Cornerback Ty Law said Wednesday that Morey’s transition from receiver to cornerback won’t be that difficult, and that he’s glad to have him back on the team.
“I don’t think it will be a tough transition at all for Sean,” said Law. “Because whatever he sets his mind to he goes out there and plays hard. He played a little bit of defensive back last year and did pretty good. We kind of got in his ear and got him kind of hyped up a little bit, so he took it out on Shawn Jefferson and some of his receiving buddies.
“He’s one of the most competitive guys I’ve been around and I’m glad to have him back. Even though he might look like Forrest Gump out there at cornerback [laughs] he’s getting the job done.”
As for Morey he said his mother told him back when he was first released, that he’d probably end up back with the team.
“My mother was right,” said Morey. “She said, ‘you know what’s going to happen, after a week you’re going to end up back there.'”
Fortunately she was right.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
