4) Two more rookies, Center Jake Andrews (4th<\/sup> 107) and Guard Antonio Mafi (5th<\/sup> 144) showed some good things in the pre-season, but like Sow, they are just not ready.\u00a0 Mafi, and his mauling style, may be closer than the other two.\u00a0 If needed, he could fill in and play in the phone booth and be less exposed.\u00a0 He is strong and stout.\u00a0 The former Nose Tackle has only been playing on the Offensive Line for three years.<\/p>\n 5) Chasen Hines was on my final roster but was waived by the team.\u00a0 He decided not to resign with New England and has taken his services to rival Miami Dolphins.\u00a0 The Patriots made a mistake waiving Hines.\u00a0 Another player waived on Tuesday was Bill Murray.\u00a0 The converted DT signed on with the Chicago Bears Practice Squad.\u00a0 The Pats did sign Andrew Steuber, Kody Russey, and James Ferentz (why?).\u00a0\u00a0 Ferentz could easily be let go and just stand by the phone as part of the shadow roster.\u00a0 No team is going call on him. \u00a0Steuber missed all last year, and this is really his rookie year.<\/p>\n 6) With the trade of Pierre Strong I felt that the team would go with just two Running Backs.\u00a0 Montgomery is back with the team, signing on with the Practice Squad.\u00a0 Kevin Harris also resigned with the Practice Squad.\u00a0 JJ Taylor status is unknown, but he was given an excused absence from the last practice on Monday which may have affected his ability to resign to the Practice Squad.\u00a0 The Patriots announced 15 players have signed which would give them one opening.\u00a0 \u00a0They will also gain two roster spots when Reiff and Thornton are put on IR.<\/p>\n 7) No one saw the Patriots cutting both Malik Cunningham and Bailey Zappe.\u00a0 The waiving of Zappe was a shocker.\u00a0 He did not play well, but given the poor play of the Offensive Line, I could have looked past that.\u00a0 However, Zappe was also holding onto the ball too long and not very accurate when he did throw.\u00a0 Both players made their way to the Practice Squad.\u00a0 A report (probably from his agent), from Tom Pellisero of NFL Network said that Zappe had seven teams contact him with offers to join their Practice Squads.\u00a0 Both players will be eligible to be elevated from the Practice Squad three times to the 53-man roster then returned to the Practice Squad.\u00a0 I would say that is the plan for the Patriots the 1st<\/sup> three weeks of the season.<\/p>\n 8) Look for the team to bring some veteran QBs in for a look such as Carson Wentz, Nick Foles and Colt McCoy.\u00a0 \u00a0A wildcard might be AJ McCarron who played for Bill O\u2019Brien at Alabama and most recently played in the XFL for the St. Louis Battlehawks.\u00a0 In his final game with St. Louis, he completed 28 of 35 passes for 420 yards and 6 TDs.\u00a0 He was named the league MVP.\u00a0 \u00a0I could see a scenario where Bailey is elevated from the Practice Squad even after the team has signed a veteran QB.\u00a0 Bailey would be the #2 QB and the veteran the emergency QB because they haven’t got the reps or practice time with the team.<\/p>\n 9) Tyrick Pitts and Ty Montgomery signed with the Practice Squad, bolstering the Wide Receiver corp.\u00a0 Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated Monday Morning Quarterback stated that JuJu Smith-Schuster\u2019s knee is mush and that he could go down at any time.\u00a0 Add to that info on Smith-Schuster was Davante Parker\u2019s absence from the media portion of practice.<\/p>\n 10) At Tight End the Pats only kept two TEs as predicted.\u00a0 They will use the Practice Squad recall liberally with Mat Sokol and newly signed Pharoah Brown.\u00a0 At 6\u20196\u201d 258 lbs. Brown is a big target.\u00a0 The 6-year veteran has played for the Raiders, Browns, Texans (for Bill O\u2019Brien), Browns again and was in the Colts camp this pre-season. \u00a0The former Oregon Duck is a good blocker but a rather slow receiver.\u00a0 Tyrone Wheatley, the Tackle acquired from the Browns was a TE in college (not a Tackle).\u00a0 I could see Bill O\u2019Brien using him as the third TE in blocking situations.<\/p>\n 11) On the defensive side, I had Lawrence Guy getting cut and then resigned as one of the two spots opened from the players going on IR.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t happen and Bill Belichick kept 7 Defensive lineman with Trey Flowers on PUP.\u00a0 Keion White can switch between the edge and DT.\u00a0 That would make for better balance on 6 DL and 4 Edge players.\u00a0 Sam Roberts was the one I didn\u2019t have making the final 53.\u00a0 His play in the final pre-season game made up for the stupid mistake of roughing the QB sliding in the Green Bay game.\u00a0 Ronnie Perkins played very well in the Green Bay game but hasn\u2019t been healthy missing almost two years.\u00a0 He cleared waivers and resigned with the Practice Squad.\u00a0 Mark Daniels from Mass Live reported that Jeremiah Pharms was resigned but he was not part of the press release from the team and not spotted at practice or in the locker room.<\/p>\n 12) I didn\u2019t realize Calvin Munson was vested veteran.\u00a0 I had him on my final 53 but he was cut.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t know he had the 4 accrued years that made him an instant Free Agent.\u00a0 I was glad to see him signed to the Practice Squad and could see him as a game day call up or one of the added players to the 53-man roster outright because of his Special Teams contributions.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Joe Giles-Harris was signed to the Practice Squad.<\/p>\n 13) The defensive backfield was pretty locked in except for Isaiah Bolden.\u00a0 He was placed on season ending IR.\u00a0 I thought they would push him through the 53 and then IR him later so that he could be activated and play this year.\u00a0 Consequently, Ameer Speed made the final 53 instead of Bolden.\u00a0 Perhaps Speed beat Bolden out and it was a way for the team to protect Bolden from waivers and give him a red shirt year to fully recover from the concussion.\u00a0 You know how much Bill Belichick likes his Special Teams players.\u00a0 The team listed Chris Board and Speed as Special Teams players.\u00a0 Joshuah Bledsoe was signed to the Practice Squad.<\/p>\n 14) I don\u2019t understand the signing of Punter Corliss Waitman to the Practice Squad!\u00a0 Bryce Baringer had a tremendous Pre-season punting and can be a real weapon when it comes to changing field position.<\/p>\n 15) The Patriots haven\u2019t officially put Reilly Rieff and Tyquan Thornton on IR yet.\u00a0 When they do, it will open up two roster spots.\u00a0 I have seen reports that the team is still exploring a possible additional QB to back up Mac Jones.\u00a0 I also think they need a running back.\u00a0 JJ Taylor has not signed with anyone yet.<\/p>\n These roster maneuvers will go on for the next 10 days until the day before the game on the 10th.\u00a0 The Patriot did not retain an UDFA on their roster so far.\u00a0 If they don\u2019t before the 1st<\/sup> game, it will be the first time in 19 years they have not, and the streak will end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here are some thoughts following the New England Patriots’ cutdowns, along with a look back at my roster projections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":46913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-news"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/USATSI_21275556_168390408_lowres-660x440.jpg\")
No one saw Zappe being waived coming. (PHOTO: Andrew Nelles \/ The Tennessean \/ USA TODAY NETWORK)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n