As always there’s never a dull moment for the Patriots and moments ago they released three players, moves that ran the gamut of expected to shocking.
First let’s start with Kaczur and Crumpler. With the emergence of Vollmer, Solder waiting in the wings, his injury history and huge salary the release of Kaczur was predictable.
As for Crumpler it’s not a total shock. His biggest asset was his leadership and clearly the Patriots must believe that rookie Lee Smith is ready to step into the third tight end role. I can’t imagine Crumplers dropped touchdown in the playoff game helped his cause either.
Both of those holes should be already filled, or relatively easy to fill but that’s not really the case with Ty Warren.
I didn’t believe any of the rumblings this off-season that Ty Warren could be cut. Yeah his salary cap hit was a little high and he had been injured a lot lately. But he also plays at one area the Pats have their biggest need, defensive line, and when healthy he was a pretty dominant player. I’m pretty shocked to see him go.
We’ll probably never know all the reasons behind why Warren was cut, but Belichick seemed unhappy with his decision to focus on finishing his degree in the 2010 off-season instead of working out with the team, which likely played a role in the injury he sustained in camp last summer. Warren was placed on the PUP list last night. We hoped it was just to buy him a little time to get fully healthy, but with his release it looks like there was a longer road ahead than anticipated.
The Patriots made due with a patchwork defensive line without Warren in 2010 and it looks like they feel okay moving forward with what they have, though Ron Brace, the next in line at LDE in 2010, is on the PUP list himself, along with second year DL Brandon Deaderick.
Not sure what the Patriots defensive line will look like when the season opens in a little over a month, but if Haynesworth works out they have two really strong pieces to build around with him and Wilfork.
Still, this makes three surprising moves in three days of Free Agency, and I’m sure there’s even more to come. My biggest question right now is whether or not Gerard Warren is back.
