Thoughts on Early Cuts and the 53-Man Roster

Steve Balestrieri

3 weeks ago at 9:00 pm ET

George Walker IV / Tennessean.com via Imagn Content Services, LLC

It has been an eventful two days for the Patriots as they have been gradually paring down the roster to reach the 53-man limit by Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Thus far, they have parted with 14 players but added two via trades, so the roster currently stands at 77, meaning 24 more players must be let go, traded, or placed on IR to get to 53. This is important because after a player makes the initial 53-man roster, he can be placed on IR with the possibility of returning.

Players Cut:
QB Trace McSorley
P Corliss Waitman
DT Carl Davis
LB Diego Fagot
S Brad Hawkins
TE Johnny Lumpkin
RB C.J. Marable
CB Quandre Mosely
CB Rodney Randle
DT Justus Tavai
OL Micah Vanterpool
TE Scotty Washington
LB Carson Wells

Traded:
Pierre Strong to Cleveland

Players Added:
OT Tyrone Wheatley Jr. from Cleveland for Strong
OT Vederian Lowe from Minnesota for a 2024, 6th-round draft pick

There weren’t any shockers in the first batch of players released. A mild surprise was the release of Carl Davis, but Sam Roberts has been playing very solid football this summer, and they need the youth movement to continue.

I know tackles are needed because of injury/illness, but I wasn’t a fan of trading Pierre Strong after just one season. I know Belichick explained that to get a player, they’d have to give up one, but I believe Strong has much more upside than either Taylor or Montgomery. But it’s done, and we move on. Some of the players may make it back to the PS.

On the subject of the offensive line, if you’d like a measured (and smaht!) opinion on the matter, read what Matt Chatham, @chatham58 had to say about the supposed lack of attention paid to the OL this offseason.

“The you-shoulda-taken-[whatever position] instead game is so tired & intellectually dishonest. I don’t get how one can still muster the energy to fake those arguments in 2023. If they hadn’t taken Christian Gonzalez, the IDENTICAL o-line conversation would now be happening about CB. 0.0 doubt about that. And if NE took a RT in the 2nd instead of Keion White—who has caused talker wet pants across the region for two months—not taking the game-changer freak instead of a boring RT would be the angle. It’s just a street corner card table shell game for dum-dums. The challenge of the NFL is you can’t get everything you need at an ideal level. That’s the setup. All the adult brains get this.”

And then there was this: “Making late camp trades for a position thin on experienced, fully healthy bodies isn’t necessarily an indication of wrong transactions. It’s an indication of a shortage of healthy bodies. And, for the most part, one can’t predict future health at signing. People forget that.”

I, for one, love it.

Patriots 53-Man Roster Projection 3.0 —

With the cuts in full swing, here is who I predict will still be around once the cuts are finished.

Quarterbacks (2):

Mac Jones
Bailey Zappe

Out: Malik Cunningham (PS)

Running Back (3):

Rhamondre Stevenson
Ezekiel Elliott
JJ Taylor

Out: Kevin Harris, Ty Montgomery

Wide Receivers (6):

DeVante Parker
Tyquan Thornton
Kendrick Bourne
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Demario Douglas
Keyshon Boutte,
Out: Thyrick Pitts

Tight Ends (2):

Hunter Henry
Mike Gesicki

Out: Matt Sokol, Anthony Firkser

Offensive Line (10):

Trent Brown
Cole Strange
David Andrews
Michael Onwenu
Riley Reiff
Tyrone Wheatley
Sidy Sow
Atonio Mafi
Vederian Lowe
Jake Andrews
NFI: Calvin Anderson

Out: James Ferentz, Chasen Hines, Bill Murray, Andrew Stueber

Defensive Line (7):

Christian Barmore
Keion White
Davon Godchaux
Deatrich Wise
Lawrence Guy
Daniel Ekuale
Sam Roberts

Out: Jeremiah Pharms

Edge/Linebacker (8):

Matthew Judon
Josh Uche
Anfernee Jennings
Ja’Whaun Bentley
Jahlani Tavai
Marte Mapu
Mack Wilson
Chris Board

Out: Ronnie Perkins, Calvin Munson, Joe Giles-Harris

Cornerbacks (6):

Christian Gonzalez
Jonathan Jones
Marcus Jones
Jack Jones
Isaiah Bolden
Myles Bryant

Out: Ameer Speed, Shaun Wade, Tae Hayes

Safeties (4):

Kyle Dugger
Adrian Phillips
Jabrill Peppers
Jalen Mills

Out: Joshuah Bledsoe, Brad Hawkins

Special Teams (5):

Chad Ryland (K)
Bryce Baringer (P)
Joe Cardona (LS)
Matthew Slater (Gunner/Coverage)
Brenden Schooler (Gunner/Coverage)

PUP: Cody Davis Out: Nick Folk (trade possibility)

Stay tuned to PatsFans.com for roster updates.

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