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clay harbor

Patriots 53-Man Roster Set (for now)

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The Patriots made all their necessary cuts today, getting their roster down to the required 53 players. Of course, things are still very fluid and there could be plenty of more movement over the next day or so. But for now, we get to overreact.

They cut a draft pick! But I loved that undrafted rookie! What happens if that guy gets hurt!

Yes, I’m sure you’re already as sick of those people as I am. Who cares. The Pats are stacked again.

Overall there were a few surprises, as there always are, but no true shockers. There are certainly some spots of concern, but those could still be addressed in the next day or so as there are now plenty of available players on the open market, many of whom could potentially help in the Pats’ trouble spots: wide receiver, running back and offensive tackle.

Here’s how things shook out on the depth chart:

[Read more…] about Patriots 53-Man Roster Set (for now)

Report: Patriots signed Clay Harbor

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Adam Caplan reported today that the Patriots signed Clay Harbor, their second free agent tight end signing of the offseason. Harbor now joins Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett atop the Patriots’ depth chart.

Patriots sign Clay HarborF-TE Still a Need

The combination of Gronk and Bennett should be deadly as the Pats have never had two top “Y” tight ends who can both block and catch. Harbor is more in the “F” tight end mold, and can be moved around the formation both as a fullback or H-back. With only second-year player AJ Derby as the other move tight end, this signing makes sense.

If there’s on joke that can stick on Bill Belichick’s tenure with the Patriots it’s his attention to tight ends, often to the point of what feels like overkill. When it works, like it did with Benjamin Watson and Dan Graham, and Gronk and Aaron Hernandez, it can be devastating. They’ve certainly built another group with the potential to be devastating this year.

Derby has good size at 6’5″, 256 pounds, but was out of commission for all of last season and has a lot to prove as a former quarterback who had only played a single season at tight end at Arkansas. He still did well enough for the Pats to take him in the sixth round, and he will now have both a mentor and competition in Harbor.

But realistically any “F” tight end, H-back, Fullback or slot receiver is going to have their snaps eaten into by the presence of two great Y tight ends.

 

 

Patriots Bargain Bin Visits Continue

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More visits to Foxboro are being reported with RB James Starks, TE Clay Harbor and WR Rod Streater the latest bargain bin free agents to take a tour of facilities. I know none of these names get people excited, but again, it’s just what the Pats do, and all of them fit needs.

Biggest thing to take away from free agency so far, at least based on rumored interest and visits, is that we were pretty dead on with what the Patriots viewed as their needs that must be filled during the silly season. For all the attention that the offensive line got in the wake of the season-ender, it was indeed the skill positions that needed reinforcements.

Harbor seems like a decent option to fill the second TE role that was vacated by Scott Chandler. Here’s what Bill Belichick had to say on Harbor this past season:

Streater is one of the more interesting players and was pointed out by Mike Reiss as an under-the-radar type:

The five-year veteran had 60 catches for 888 yards and four touchdowns in 2013 for the Raiders, but has fallen off the radar since — first because of injury in 2014 and then as a result of a scheme/coaching change and stacked depth chart that remained healthy in 2015. He’s the type of undervalued asset on the market that could be appealing to the Patriots at a position of need.

Streater was the Raiders number one receiver during that 2013 season and if he had put up those numbers last year it would certainly be getting people’s attention. Interestingly, no one could really tell why he fell out of favor last season with the new regime.

Finally comes Starks, who is coming off a career-best 601 yards rushing and 392 yards receiving. Starks has good size (6’1″, 203) and would seem to fit the bill for a do-it-all back in the Pats’ system.

There’s just no telling how these guys would blossom in New England. Two of them would be coming from teams that have had far-worse quarterbacks than Tom Brady. Can they pick up the system? How will they respond to a system that is cemented in place and expects them to be in the exact right spot after making post-snap reads? This mostly applies to Streater, but it’s also easy to insert Harbor and Starks into the holes the Pats have and expect they’d be okay.

That’s ultimately what free agency is about. Players like these set the stage before the draft, enabling the Pats to not have to reach to fill a need. And if the perfect tight end, running back or receiver falls to them it could make any one of these low risk free agents expendable.