An Independent Patriots Blog
Hoping everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July week! Your faithful Minister of PatsPropaganda will be down the Cape, where Fitzy and I are hoping to meet up for a Cape 4th Edition of Foxboro & Friends from a local watering hole. Keep an eye out for that!
Here’s a final pre-camp 53-man roster, with practice squad hopefuls and cuts. I am fully aware that some of those PS guys wouldn’t make it through.
Let’s dive in!
With the announcement of Ben Watson’s four-game suspension, Austin Seferian-Jenkins missing in action at the first OTAs of the offseason and Gronk living his post-retirement dreams, the tight end position for the 2019 Patriots is very much up in the air.
Along with Gronk retiring, they traded away the oft-injured Jacob Hollister. Hollister made the team two years in a row and had plenty of spectacular training camp catches but it never panned out on the game field.
I can’t help but lament not hanging on to Dwayne Allen, who signed with Miami. He was never going to be a threat in the passing game really, but he at least gave them a strong NFL-caliber blocker.
Now I’m not sure they can even say that, at least for September. The Patriots are back at tight end ground zero.
[Read more…] about Let’s Talk Patriots Tight EndsThe Patriots didn’t make their 32nd overall pick until close to midnight on Thursday but it was well worth the wait for me as they selected wide receiver N’Keal Harry, a player I had in my one and only mock draft of the spring.
I spent much of the last week expressing how much I wanted the Pats to pick a “presence” player, especially at wide out and tight end and that’s exactly what Harry is — a super competitive big receiver willing to do the dirty work.
How does Harry fit? Let’s dive in with some highlights and scouting reports.
The Patriots got their preseason schedule for the summer and it’s about as Pats-friendly as it could get, with matchups against Matt Patricia’s Lions and Mike Vrabel’s Titans in the first two weeks of the season.
Patriots 2019 preseason:
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) April 9, 2019
Week 1: at Lions
Week 2: at Titans
Week 3: vs. Panthers
Week 4: vs. Giants
Specific dates/times TBA. This is ideal for Patriots, as they had made request to work with Matt Patricia/Lions and Mike Vrabel/Titans in games (and likely practices beforehand).
Once again the Patriots used free agency to fill in the depth of their roster and at least a baseline level of talent at (almost) every position. With plenty of options still on the market there will be more free agency additions, but likely only short-term fixes.
For long-term
And just like that, they were gone.
I guess I forgot about how silly the “legal tampering period” is because the Monday mid-day news of the Patriots’ big fish signing elsewhere caught me a bit by surprise.
Trent Brown made it two years in a row that a Patriots free agent left tackle became the highest paid offensive lineman in the NFL, signing with the Oakland Raiders.
Trey Flowers followed Matt Patricia and Danny Amendola to Detroit, as the ex-defensive coordinator and GM Bob Quinn continue to put a Patriots stamp on the Lions.
Neither departure was all that much of a surprise. With tons of money to spend, everyone
So what now for the Patriots?
[Read more…] about Goodbye Trey Flowers and Trent BrownAs much as it pains me it’s time to post the 2019 roster depth chart including only players under contract. Yes, we’re kinda sorta on to 2019 but reserving the right to go back to Super Bowl 53 any time I want.
The first reset before embarking on free agency and the draft is to take inventory of the complexion of the team. The short terms needs for the 2019 campaign and then the long term needs as players depart for one reason or another.
Let run through the roster and take a quick temperature test at each position group.
[Read more…] about Patriots Roster Breakdown: Short and Long Term NeedsPer Adam Schefter and Field Yates, the NFL is closing down the Patriots’ facility this morning once again, casting serious doubt on their rescheduled Monday night game against Denver. Now, we don’t know exactly what has happened but this could indicate a new positive test showed up sometime yesterday/late last night. UPDATE Now confirmed, a […]
