Thursday Patriots Notebook 8/28: Practice Squad Shaping Up, Vrabel Candid on Roster Moves
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Some Patriots news and notes on this Thursday:
1) Roster settles, practice Squad finally set: After the Patriots made their initial cuts down to 53 on Tuesday, there was little doubt that the club might make a couple of additional moves based on players who were part of the league-wide purge.
That’s essentially what happened. New England went ahead and claimed both quarterback Tommy DeVito and defensive back Charles Woods off of waivers on Wednesday, which pushed off two players who had made the initial Patriots roster.
Both linebacker Bradyn Swinson and receiver Javon Baker were the two guys bounced off the roster, with Swinson having since reappeared as part of the group placed on the practice squad. Based on the reports, the belief is that Baker will join him if and when he clears waivers.
From there, here’s how the practice squad currently stands, with sixteen players currently as part of the group. However, David Olajiga has an International Pathway exemption, which leaves one additional spot that, in theory, would go to Baker.
Current Patriots Practice Squad:
The addition of DeVito at quarterback solidifies the depth behind Drake Maye a little better. Josh Dobbs was inconsistent throughout much of training camp, but Ben Wooldridge didn’t do quite enough to grab the #3 quarterback spot behind him. After starting and playing the entire game against the Giants, Wooldridge was released the Saturday after the preseason finale in New York.
DeVito was far and away the best quarterback the Patriots faced all preseason in terms of his numbers, with the former Giants starter completing 17-of-20 (85%) for 198 yards and three touchdowns.
More importantly, he’s someone who also has NFL experience as a starter. DeVito has put up some pretty good totals during his career and was definitely a fan favorite during his tenure there. Overall, he’s 145-0f-222 (65.3%) for 1,358 yards along with 8 touchdowns and three interceptions in 12 games over the last two seasons.
Vrabel was asked about Dobbs on Wednesday, with the head coach saying that he’s improved and to not necessarily view one player’s addition as a knock against someone else.
“Josh has settled down in the games,” said Vrabel. “I think that there’s been some mistakes, whether that was joint practice or practice, and we’re all going to have mistakes, and then being able to settle down in the games and perform and operate. Again, each move that we’ll make may not be an indication of what the players are at that position. I think it’s just looking to strengthen the overall roster construction.”
Meanwhile, the loss of Woods has people in Los Angeles disappointed. Woods was considered to be a solid depth player for the Rams and was also a good special teams contributor. Following yesterday’s claim by the Patriots, the fact that he’s now in New England has left people out there disappointed.
Woods appeared in 12 games last season for the Rams and tallied two tackles, but the 25-year-old former undrafted free agent provides depth at a position that is still a little thin. Given the injury history of Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, and Marcus Jones, things are certainly concerning. Behind those three are only Woods, D.J. James, and Alex Austin, so it’s a group with not much margin for error.
2) Vrabel Explains Borregales Decision: Vrabel was asked on Wednesday about his decision to go with Andres Borregales over John Parker-Romo at kicker, which had been one of the biggest competitions in camp this summer.
Vrabel said that in the end, it was a difficult decision and now it’s up to Borregales to do his job as we head into the season.
“I thought it was competitive,” said Vrabel. “I thought Parker really improved from the spring to the summer. I think just the entire body of work, we felt like Andy was going to be our kicker.”
“And again, I appreciate Parker’s competitiveness and how he worked, and I wish him well. Those are always difficult decisions. And again, we’re going to do everything we can to support Andy, and then he knows he’s got to make them. That’s the job of the kicker. You got to make them. And I expect that he will.”
3) Vrabel speaks on “break up” with Bourne and Epps: Both wide receiver Kendrick Bourne and safety Marcus Epps were two players who requested – and were granted – their release from the club in recent days.
Epps reportedly asked out a couple of days ago, while Bourne reportedly made the same request after the club failed in a trade attempt to send him to Minnesota. The Vikings instead opted to bring back Adam Thielen from Carolina, which shut the door on that opportunity. According to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, the Patriots also asked Bourne to take a pay cut, but he declined.
Bourne’s status remains up in the air, although the rumors are that a reunion in San Francisco may be coming. Epps is reportedly having a reunion of his own, with reports that the safety will rejoin the Philadelphia Eagles. He was previously with the club from 2019 to 2022 and started every game for the Eagles during their NFC Championship run in 2022.
As for their departures, Vrabel wouldn’t acknowledge either player asking out, but did equate it to a failed relationship.
“Yeah, that’s news to me,” said Vrabel. “I think that we just, again, try to put the roster together. I guess when it doesn’t work out, you break up with somebody, your girlfriend doesn’t want to be with you, and then you say, ‘Well, I don’t want to be with you either.’”
“I’m not going to get into it. It was just like, you know what I mean? We’re not going to go back and forth here. We’re trying to build a roster. Got to move on from some guys. You make connections with guys. You coach them. They earn opportunities. They get more opportunities. They take advantage of them. And that’s kind of how these things go.”
4) Vrabel offers support for Dugger and Jennings: Two other names that were expected to possibly be moved were Kyle Dugger and Anfernee Jennings, both of whom remained with the club despite being shopped.
Despite where he’s been on the depth chart, Dugger is someone Vrabel’s continued to support throughout camp, and that support continued yesterday.
“Because I think he’s feeling better,” said Vrabel when asked why he felt the veteran is still a good fit for the roster. “Thought he had some really good snaps against New York. I think he can help us and obviously find a role, talked to him about that, have talked to him about that. Will continue to talk to him about that and provide value to the football team.”
When asked about Jennings, Vrabel added that the linebacker has “earned the right” to be part of the roster.
“He wasn’t able to play in the last game, but where we were as of now, I thought he, through his practice and through his performance in the games and the way that he competed, has earned the right to be here,” said Vrabel. “He’ll have to continue to do that just like everybody else will.”
The latter comment is interesting. Vrabel said at the start of his tenure that everyone is going to have to “earn the right to be here,” and it’s hard not to wonder if both Dugger and Jennings ended up being pushed a little more this preseason now that Vrabel is in charge.
Adversity sometimes brings out the best in people, and both Dugger and Jennings certainly improved as the preseason went on. Hopefully, that continues heading into the regular season.
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