Patriots (Initial) 53-Man Roster Posits

 

The Patriots finally got down to 53 players on Saturday night, once again reminding us that the “4pm deadline” means little in practice. Still, there were plenty of surprises throughout the day including three trades, from which the Patriots acquired two new players — Cassius Marsh and Phillip Dorsett.

Here’s how my initial depth chart looks like however it’s important to remember that there are very likely more moves coming and some of the low end surprises on the roster might not even be on there very long. This extends even past this weekend and into the season. The Patriots never stop tinkering and trying to improve, whether injuries force their hands or they just feel like they can get better in a certain spot.

 

Let’s break it down…

Biggest surprises — aside from the trades that no one could see coming Cole Croston and Jacob Hollister have to be the two biggest surprises. Yes, four undrafted rookies made it, including Harvey Langi and Adam Butler. Those two, and even Hollister, were less surprising because all stood out in the preseason. Everyone was pencilling in Ted Karras as the interior backup but Croston beat him out for that job. Now, Croston might not stick past Sunday, but he made the initial 53-man roster and that’s pretty impressive.

Most exciting addition — I’m going to go with Cassius Marsh here because I think the Pats really needed someone like him. I’m not worried about his schematic fit really, because I think they’ll just ask him to rush the passer from sub-packages, at least initially. Of course he’ll also play special teams. I like the kind of fire he brings to the team and in a few years I think we could look back and see this as a major move.

I’m worried about — Phillip Dorsett. Yeah he’s fast but a receiver who’s had various injury issues, coming into this offense without an offseason or preseason? If he picks up the offense and earns Brady’s trust on the fly I’ll consider it a minor miracle.

— I’ve moved Hogan to the top “Z” receiver because I think he’ll play that spot now that Edelman’s out. Of course the Patriots have all their receivers play all the different roles, but I’d expect to see Hogan more in the slot and running more underneath routes, especially in critical situations.

— One area that could still be addressed on Sunday is punt returner. I think that will be a work in progress, but I wouldn’t expect anyone other than Danny Amendola to catch a punt next Thursday, barring an addition.

— Jordan Richards did in fact survive. I guess the community service award does have some weight? I’ll be curious to see if he lasts the season and if he sees any time on the field outside of special teams. I hope not.

— Seemed like a lot of signs were pointing to Shea McClellin ending up on IR, but even I’m glad he didn’t. I wanted to at least see him with another year in the system under his belt. Losing him for the year would’ve been a hard blow to the linebacker depth.

— I plan on adjusting the depth chart more once we get a glimpse of the actual schemes against Kansas City. For now I’m keeping a general 4-3/nickel front depth chart look. But things could be shifting toward more 3-3-5 based on how the depth looks. Of course, they’ll play all kinds of looks, which I plan on tracking extensively this year, but I feel like a shift could be occurring.

— One strange thing is Tony Garcia ending up on IR with a “non-football illness”. Not sure what that means but it’s a disappointing end to the rookie’s season. Though he certainly could use a year to get healthy and develop. He could come off the NFI list after 8 weeks, but might be better to just let him red shirt.

Overall this is as talented a Patriots team as we’ve seen. There are certainly some spots where depth could be a concern, but that’s the case for every NFL team. An injury at left tackle or to Dont’a Hightower could quickly alter what the team can do, but if this is the team we’re going to war with and they all stay healthy, I like their chances.