Time to give a Patriots 53-man roster one last shot before all craziness breaks loose this weekend and everything it turned upside down by a trade or a release or a signing that no one can see coming.
After the injury to Cyrus Jones I see about 50 total locks for then roster with three open spots to play with. Since there’s some significant veteran turnover on both sides of the ball, I stuck with some of the veteran special teams guys to maintain some consistency in that aspect of the team.
WIthout guys like Ninkovich and Edelman I’m keeping guys like Bolden and Grissom around for some additional leadership.
Here are my 50:
QB (3) T.Brady, J.Garoppolo, J.Brissett
RB (6) M.Gillislee, D.Lewis, R.Burkhead, J.White, J.Develin, B.Bolden
WR (5) B.Cooks, C.Hogan, M.Mitchell, D.Amendola, M.Slater
TE (2) R.Gronkowski, D.Allen
C (1) D.Andrews
G (3) S.Mason, J.Thuney, T.Karras
T (3) N.Solder, M.Cannon, C.Fleming
DE (4) T.Flowers, D.Wise, A.Butler, G.Grissom
DT (4) A.Branch, M.Brown, L.Guy, V.Valentine
ILB(2) D.Harris, E.Roberts
OLB(4) D.Hightower, S.McClellin, K.VanNoy, H.Langi
CB (5) M.Butler, S.Gilmore, E.Rowe, J.Coleman, J.Jones
SS (3) P.Chung, N.Ebner, B.King
FS (2) D.McCourty, D.Harmon
ST (3) S.Gostkowski, R.Allen, J.Cardona
I see Cyrus Jones and Tony Garcia going onto IR. That opens up some flexibility (unfortunately/fortunately), but it’s hard to figure out which way to go with the bottom three spots.
Let’s talk about who to choose for then remaining three spots. The candidates as I see them are:
- Devin Lucien – did everything asked of him, stood out in then preseason finale, has a year of experience in the system under his belt.
- James O’Shaughnessy — Has his fans but I still lean toward the team only keeping two tight ends.
- Austin Carr — I just think Lucien is a little more polished at this point and more ready to contribute. Carr makes tough catches though and seems to understand route running. He could still sneak on.
- DJ Foster — Could the need for a punt returner open a spot for him despite the log jam at running back? Can also play some receiver. That could help.
- Jordan Richards — I know he won the community service award but I just think he’s at best a special teamer and should never see time on defense.
- Kenny Moore — Really stood out to me as a gunner and with scrappy corner play. I’d lean practice squad on him.
- LaAdrian Waddle — Could go either way on Waddle. With Solder’s summer of being on and off the field a little additional tackle depth might be reassuring.
- Conor McDermott — despite last night’s poor play on the pick six, I like McDermott’s size and movement skills. Still rough but he seems like a PS candidate at worst.
My final three: Lucien, O’Shaughnessy and Richards.
(This will all be blown out of the water in the next 24 hours)
