Yesterday the Pats made 5 roster moves to get their roster down to the 75-player limit. They placed OG Stephen Neal on the PUP list (out 6 weeks), placed OT Ryan O’Callaghan on IR (out for the season) and waived RB Kyle Eckel, CB Jason Webster and OG Ryan Wendell. Unfortunately for many Pats on the roster-bubble the rosters need to be cut down to 53 by August 30, meaning 22 more players will be bounced from the active roster by Saturday. That makes Thursday’s final pre-season game against the Giants a very key one for the players not assured of making the team. Using the 2007 Week 1 roster as a guide for how many players may stick at each position, it appears to me that 43 of the 53 spots are already locked up. It also appears there are at least 10 players who would be considered long shots to make the roster. This means there are going to be roughly 22 players competing for just 10 spots. Some interesting players I believe to be on the bubble at the moment: Matt Cassell, Matt Gutierrez. Sammy Morris, Lamont Jordan, Matthew Slater, Ray Ventrone, Dan Connolly, Oliver Ross, Mike Flynn, Santonio Thomas, Larry Izzo, Vince Redd, Gary Guyton, Eric Alexander, Victor Hobson, Mike Richardson and Antwain Spann.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Time to Trim Roster for Pats
Yesterday the Pats made 5 roster moves to get their roster down to the 75-player limit. They placed OG Stephen Neal on the PUP list (out 6 weeks), placed OT Ryan O’Callaghan on IR (out for the season) and waived RB Kyle Eckel, CB Jason Webster and OG Ryan Wendell. Unfortunately for many Pats on the roster-bubble the rosters need to be cut down to 53 by August 30, meaning 22 more players will be bounced from the active roster by Saturday. That makes Thursday’s final pre-season game against the Giants a very key one for the players not assured of making the team. Using the 2007 Week 1 roster as a guide for how many players may stick at each position, it appears to me that 43 of the 53 spots are already locked up. It also appears there are at least 10 players who would be considered long shots to make the roster. This means there are going to be roughly 22 players competing for just 10 spots. Some interesting players I believe to be on the bubble at the moment: Matt Cassell, Matt Gutierrez. Sammy Morris, Lamont Jordan, Matthew Slater, Ray Ventrone, Dan Connolly, Oliver Ross, Mike Flynn, Santonio Thomas, Larry Izzo, Vince Redd, Gary Guyton, Eric Alexander, Victor Hobson, Mike Richardson and Antwain Spann.
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The guys I feel are 100% safe...
QB (2): Brady, O'Connell
RB (3): Maroney, Faulk, Evans
WR (5): Moss, Welker, Gafney, Jackson, Washington
TE (2): Watson, Thomas
OL (7): Light, Mankins, Koppen, Yates, Kaczur, Britt, Hochstein
DL (6): Warren, Wilfork, Seymour, Wright, Green, Smith
LB (6): Vrabel, Mayo, Bruschi, Thomas, Woods, Crable
DB (8): Bryant, Hobbs, Harrison, J.Sanders, L.Sanders, Wheatley, Meriweather, Lynch
ST (3): Gostkowski, Hanson, Paxton
Giving this a quick 2nd look I suppose I'm not 100% confident in
Kelly Washington, LeKevin Smith or Wesley Britt...but I'd be very shocked if any of them got cut.
At LB I think Izzo, Alexander or Hobson is out. I just can't see then cutting Redd or Guyton after how they've played this pre-season. Since Izzo and Alexander have ST experience Hobson may be the odd man out.
I think Izzo is more of a lock than Woods. Although Washington made a bunch of nice plays on ST last year, Izzo is still the most fundementally sound tackler on ST. He may not be the fastest, but he certainly always puts himself in a position to make plays. I would be surprised/upset if they got rid of Izzo and kept Woods.
What has Alexander shown over the past two years? For some reason he was on the team last year. I can not imagine he makes it this year with them drafting two LB's.
QB- Brady,vet FA QB (Culpepper), O'Connell
RB- Maroney, Jordan, Faulk, Evans
TE- Watson, Thomas, Stupar
WR- Moss, Welker, Gaffney, Jackson, Washinton, Slater, Jones
OL- Light, Mankins, Koppen, Kaczur, Yates, Ross, Connolly, Hochstein, Flynn
DL- Seymour, Wilfork, Warren, Green, Wright, Smith, Thomas
LB- Vrabel, Bruschi, Thomas, Mayo, Crable, Redd, Guyton, Izzo, Woods
DB- Hobbs, Harrison, Lynch, Bryant, Wheatley, Meriweather, Sanders, Sanders (either Spann or Richardson)
K- Gostkowski
P- Hanson
There's my 53 man roster
i reviewed my roster and forgot Paxton, and not sure how to fill him in drop one of the OL i had or Spann or Richardson
I'd definitely take Woods over Izzo. Younger, more athletic, plays special teams and can play LB. Izzo has clearly lost a step and isn't the same player he was on ST and he can't play anything else. Kelly Washington is our new special teams ace.
The Boston Globe guessed the 53 man roster today and it looked like this:
QB (3): Brady, O'Connell, Gutierrez
RB (5): Maroney, Faulk, Evans, Jordan, Morris
WR (6): Moss, Welker, Gafney, Washington, Jackson, Aiken
TE (2): Watson, Thomas
OL (9): Light, Mankins, Koppen, Kaczur, Hochstein, Yates, Britt, Welbourn, Flynn
DL (6): Seymour, Wilfork, Warren, Wright, Green, Smith
LB (9): Bruschi, Vrabel, Mayo, Thomas, Crable, Woods, Alexander, Guyton, Redd
DB (9): Bryant, Hobbs, Wheatley, Wilhite, Richardson, Harrison, Sanders, Lynch, Meriweather
ST (4): Gostkowski, Hanson, Paxton, Slater*
* Slater lister as return specialist instead of WR.
They seem to think all 5 RBs are safe, Aiken will stay for his ST work, and rookie CB Jonathan Wilhite will stay. That's 3 less spots on my list.
Globe has both Hobson and Izzo getting the axe. I originally thought 2 of 3 of them + Alexander would stay...now it looks like 2 of 3 will be gone.
I'd be really bummed if Redd got cut. I've loved him in pre-season.
you are stretching the truth if you say Alexander can play LB. He looks comletely lost. He either can not read the offense, or just completely forgot how to take on blocks.
4 cuts today, bringing the total down to 71 (18 more cuts to go).
Cut were....
NT - Steve Fifita
OL - Jimmy Martin
CB - Jeff Shoate
TE - Jonathan Stupar
None are surprising at all. I'm surprised Stupar wasn't waived halfway through the game last night. He was the intended receiver on a pass that got intercepted (although it was overturned), got called for offensive interference on the play, and began arguing with the official while the Giants guy got up and started running instead of touching him down. It was 3 strikes in one pass play. Unreal. Not downing the guy was the move that I knew would get him out of town immediately.
Ok so take Stupar of my list and the the Paxton space everyone else stays.
I have REALLY bummed about Vince Redd getting cut. I also think it's total BS that Cassel made the team over Gutierrez, but I think if Brady goes down O'Connell would play and we're pretty much toast anyway, so why not keep Brady's pal around I guess.
Anyone else a bit shocked by the John Lynch / Chad Jackson news?
The Pats signed 6 guys to the practice squad and I'm psyched about the guys that passed through waivers:
DL - Titus Adams
S - Mark Dillard
RB - BenJarvis Green-Ellis
LB - Vince Redd
CB - Mike Richardson
DB - Antwain Spann
With the exception of Dillard, who to be honest I didn't notice one way or another, these guys all impressed me to varying degrees. Good stuff all around.
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