Patriots News 6/23: Insider Projects Interesting Patriots Roster Longshots
Patriots News & Roster Notes: Camp Standouts, Jersey Controversy, and Surprise Cuts Emerging
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Some Patriots news and notes on this Monday:
1) Boston Globe football writer Ben Volin had an interesting point in his Sunday column, which centered around his belief that it may be time for the NFL to end the practice of retiring jersey numbers.
His reasoning? The obvious fact that unlike the other sports, there are just too many players on a given team, especially during the preseason when the rosters expand to 90. However, the bigger issue is the inconsistency in terms of how it’s done, and he cites some surprising examples when it comes to contrasting the Patriots against the rest of the league.
In the case of New England, they already have a fair amount of numbers out of circulation. The most recent one was Tom Brady’s #12, which was done for obvious reasons. From there, Gino Cappelletti (#20), Mike Haynes (#40), John Hannah (#73), Jim Lee Hunt (#79), and Bob Dee (#89) are some additional names who fall into the nine jerseys out of circulation, with eight officially having been retired by the club.
As Volin points out, Andrew Tippett, who wore #56, hasn’t seen his number worn since he retired in 1993. Other names who also come into play are Steve Nelson (#57), and Bruce Armstrong (#78).
Obviously, the last two decades raised the bar quite a bit for this franchise, with many of those names being honored prior to Robert Kraft becoming the owner of the team. Given all the amazing players who have come through here during that span, it’s odd to see some of those guys, who in some cases made similar impacts as a couple of those names, still see their jerseys worn even now by some of these young players.
During the era when Bill Belichick was here, Volin points out that the club took the jersey out of circulation for a season, and then reissued it. That’s how someone like Tyquan Thornton ended up wearing #11 in 2022, with Julian Edelman having retired following the 2020 season.
He feels that when it comes to someone like Brady, that one is obvious. It’s hard not to agree there, given the amount of gray area there tends to be with some of the others. Brady’s a once-in-a-generation type of player. There’s nothing to debate there.
The topic of discussion came up due to rookie Kyle Williams wearing Matthew Slater’s old #18, with Williams acknowledging the significance of it during an interview last week.
What’s sort of crazy is that the Patriots have a significant number of players who are wrestling with this, and it’s interesting that teams like Dallas don’t have any. That’s wild when you take into consideration some of the players who came through that organization.
The Steelers have retired just three, with Franco Harris (#32), Joe Greene (#75), and Ernie Stautner (#70) falling into that category. Like the Cowboys, the Steelers have had some impressive players over the years, so to have just three guys, and essentially none from the modern era, is surprising.
In the Patriots’ case, it’s tough to undo something like that. Barring a league-wide decision, it would be tough to retract an honor bestowed on guys who helped establish the foundation for this football team.
But in a league where there are only so many numbers to start with, which in some cases sees multiple guys wearing the same number in camp, it definitely makes it tough.
2) During last week’s Patriots Talk Podcast, Phil Perry and Tom Curran brought up the Patriots secondary, who they feel should be one of their strengths heading into this season.
The biggest reason being the fact that the pairing of Carlton Davis with Christian Gonzalez gives New England a dynamic they haven’t had in a while, which should allow them to get creative on that side of the football.
“I would say it has the potential to be their strength,” said Perry. “And maybe it’ll be hard for us to discern. Maybe we’ll be doing a Patriots Talk podcast midseason, and we’ll be saying, ‘Which position group is this team’s best? Why do they have a winning record? We’re almost to Halloween, and they’ve got a winning…’ I’m just making things up right now. But is it the defensive front or is it the secondary? I think that could be a real conversation.”
“Because I think the potential that you have in [Christian Gonzalez], who we know is excellent, and [Carlton] Davis, who we know has been excellent at times, especially in man-to-man heavy schemes, to have those two guys together, and what you might be able to do defensively in terms of funneling targets to weapons that the offense might not want to target as often as they’re targeting them when they come to Gillette Stadium because of those two really good players you have on the outside. Because of the versatility that you have in the safety group.”
“You should be able to cover the change-up guy,” added Curran. “You should be able to cover the tight end that they want to go to because Gonzalez is taking away whichever best player you have with a secondary guy, and you’re doubling with Davis in another safety.”
“The tight end, the backs, I think they have matchups for all of these guys,” said Perry. “And I think the versatility that you have in the secondary will allow Terrell [Williams], Mike Vrabel, to get creative with how they deploy these guys. I look at how Vrabel deployed his safeties in Tennessee, and they were really everywhere, all of them.”
“They didn’t have… Kevin Byard was a guy who came up with a lot of interceptions, but he wasn’t like this true in the post, Devon McCourty-style free safety. He was in the slot at times. He was in the box at times. He was a strong safety. He was in the deep half of the field at times. Same for Kenny Vaccaro, same for Amani Hooker. You can do that with the guys you have in New England. So I think the secondary and the improvements they’ve made is a great example of a stone-cold lock of a reason why they will be better in 2025.”
When you take into account that Vrabel seems poised to put together an aggressive defense, one can only hope that we’ll see far more turnovers than we saw a year ago, which should hopefully see an overall improvent from that side of the football.
3) When it comes to some of the longshot names to make the roster, it was interesting to take a look at Doug Kyed’s most recent 53-man roster prediction.
Kyed was present for the club’s most recent sessions this month, and some of the names he mentioned that stood out were interesting.
Here are some of the names he believes will be left standing when the dust clears at various positions:
TE: Jack Westover – Kyed reports that he was among the players getting the most work behind Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper. One other name that I had high hopes for, second-year TE and former Florida State standout, Jaheim Bell, Kyed writes, “did not impress during OTAs and minicamp.”
WR: Efton Chism: He’s been a player who many writers are high on and he appears to be in the mix to earn one of those spots behind Stefon Diggs, Demario Douglas, Mack Hollins, and Kyle Williams. The most interesting note was the fact Kyed believes Ja’Lynn Polk’s future, despite being injured, remains a question, given that “Mike Vrabel and McDaniels have no past history with him.”
S: Jaylinn Hawkins and Dell Pettus: Kyed has Hawkins over Marcus Epps. and also has Dell Pettus making the roster. His feeling is that Pettus made more plays than Epps, while the fact Hawkins received more guaranteed money shows they believe in him.
RB: Lan Larison: Kyed has Larison rounding out this group behind Rhamondre Stevenson, Antonio Gibson, and rookie TreVeyon Henderson. With Larison, it’s not because he’s shown much thus far, with Kyed writing the young running back “hasn’t quite done enough in OTAs or minicamp to deserve a roster spot, but the Patriots typically liked to keep four or five running backs” based on how they’ve done things previously with Josh McDaniels.
4) File this one under a bit of irony looking back at where this team was a year ago.
At the time, Chukwuma Okorafor had had a strong spring, and looked poised to seize the left tackle spot heading into the season.
“I will say, they’re really happy with Okorafor at left tackle,” said Bedard at this time last year. “I think he’s been one of the surprises of camp to them. From what I’ve seen, I think he’s done a good job. Not a whole lot of pressure coming from his side.”
Little did any of us know that Okorafor would make it just 12 snaps into the season before being replaced by Vederian Lowe.
Okorafor then picked up his ball and left the team, and for the rest of the 2024 season, it was a bumpy ride that ultimately set the stage for them to take a shot at Will Campbell back in April.
That’s why despite feeling optimistic at this time of year when there’s nothing going on until the players get back on the field, it’s a reminder that things always tend to take an interesting turn when things get real. It’s also sort of funny that Okorafor managed to convince the Jets that the lack of commitment he showed both in Pittsburgh in New England won’t be a problem there.
Good luck with that.
5) Lastly, congratulations to New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye, who appears to have gotten married over the weekend.
Some might remember the heat he took for missing Mike Vrabel’s introductory press conference while he was off getting engaged, which felt a little silly.
But for now, best wishes to him as he and his wife enjoy these next few weeks before life again becomes all about football until at least next January.
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