Yesterday the Patriots cut 24 players to bring their roster number down to the league-mandated 53. Today will see the team begin to sign players to the newly expanded 16-man practice squad, can you believe we’re a week away from the season opener?
Here’s the final Sunday check-in before the regular season.
Cut Day Recap
The team’s journey to trim down their roster to 53 included some notable releases:
K’s Justin Rohrwasser & Nick Folk
Rohrwasser’s departure wasn’t a big surprise for me, as soon as Folk came into the picture I had a feeling his time was drawing to a close. The most notable thing was that Folk was also released, but after looking at what the Pats have done in the past, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was only to facilitate roster movements that we will most likely see today. Or, the team is starting fresh at the position.
RB Lamar Miller
After signing a one-year deal with the team in August, Miller spent nearly all of camp on the PUP list. As I mentioned in yesterday’s live blog, I went back and forth on whether I thought he would stay or not, ultimately, the team thought he was expendable, but he could return on the PS.
WR Jeff Thomas
Thomas, who went undrafted this year, missed a whole lot of practice through-out camp and wasn’t able to do enough to make his first NFL roster. One of the more highly notable UDFA’s, Thomas should be on the top of the team’s PS list if he clears waivers.
RB J.J. Taylor
Another UDFA who showed sparks during camp, Taylor, who’s a smaller RB standing at five-foot-five, drew comparisons to former Patriot Dion Lewis. When Miller was released, it looked like Taylor could squeeze into the deep RB group, but was eventually waived. Would love to have him back on the PS.
LB Cassh Maluia
Probably the surprise of the day came when Maluia’s release was reported, the rookie sixth-rounder had a solid camp and was projected by many to stick around. For now, his time with the team is over but could be another PS favorite if he goes unclaimed today.
You can see the full list of yesterday’s releases here.
Potential Practice Squad Returns
With the practice squad now expanded to 16 spots, here’s who I’d have back out of yesterday’s cuts.
WR Jeff Thomas
OL Tyler Gauthier
DT Bill Murray
WR Devin Ross
CB Myles Bryant
LB Cassh Maluia
K Justin Rohrwasser
RB J.J. Taylor
Injuries
With a number of players carrying injuries through-out camp making the 53-man roster, we may see a couple of them transferred to IR today. But who’s a candidate?
DL Beau Allen
Since arriving in the offseason, Allen participated in pre-camp fitness drills and was only seen one other time during the entirety of training camp. Clearly, for what he can bring to the front line, he’s a valuable asset to keep around, but he’s obviously dealing with something that isn’t going away quickly, I’d be surprised if he wasn’t the first name on IR.
RB Damien Harris
Harris had a superb training camp to begin his second season in the league, but missed some time towards the end with a finger injury which required surgery, reports also added he could be a doubt for the Week 1 matchup against Miami. Harris could be dropped on IR to allow time for him to recover, then bring him back after the shortened 3-week grace period.
WR Gunner Olszewski
A worry if Gunner does head to IR, even for a short period of time, he was one of the best receivers in camp and has really taken the famous “second-year jump” so far that we’d been hoping for. He recently missed some time at practice, hopefully it’s nothing serious and he’s good to go next week.
QB Jarett Stidham
Stidham had an injury scare during camp after he took a trip to the hospital regarding a leg injury. Since then, he hasn’t missed a practice, but still hasn’t looked 100%, he was also downplayed the injury during his recent conference calls. I think he’s an outsider to go on, but one of a few to think about.
Salary Cap Check-In
The Pats are sitting on a healthy cap number right now, which Miguel from @patscap points out will decrease by over $2m at some point today when the PS is filled.
Some notable FA’s are off the board now including Jadeveon Clowney who’s heading to the Titans. Some trades may be incoming, and with the available space being what it is right now, it opens up the opportunity to bring in someone with a larger contract, if the team is interested.
Happy Sunday, and enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
[…] was one of the potential candidates for IR I projected in last week’s Sunday supplement, he injured his fingers during camp which required surgery. Although not overly surprising, this is […]