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How Will Pats Cut Corners?

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The most interesting position group for the Patriots as we head into the final preseason week with cutdowns looming this weekend is cornerback. Between the new guys that have emerged and those who are returning from injury, there’s a logjam of intriguing players with a variety of skillsets, contracts and draft statuses. We’ve seen this happen before, with it often ending up with undrafted players making the roster and others unfortunately making it on different rosters around the league.

The position is oft-maligned but the top-two starters have been entrenched from the start. Stephon Gilmore was arguably the best defensive player in training camp. You might get distracted by the catches he gave up in a preseason game against Carolina, but make no mistake, Gilmore is poised for a shutdown season, the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long time.

Next to him will be Eric Rowe, who hasn’t let go of the starting spot since last Super Bowl. Rowe is an outside guy with good size, so he’s useful for matchups as well. While the Pats will lean heavily on their three-safety, two-corner package, all five positions feature entrenched veterans. After that is where things get murky.

Let’s run down the candidates.

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Patriots Rookie Power Rankings

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The Patriots have a day off today so it’s a moment to catch our breath. As you probably heard by now Isaiah Wynn caught a second punt attempt and won the team a day off. It won’t do them much good in NFL Power Rankings, but it was a welcomed break after five-straight days of work.

Belichick pulls this all the time in camp — Matt Light, Vince Wilfork caught punts, Stephen Gostkowski kicked a night off-winning field goal. But every time I can remember, all did it on the first try. I’m pretty sure Wynn was the first to drop one, but that doesn’t hurt his spot on my rookie power rankings after five training camp practices because he looks like a beast.

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Handing Out Real Patriots Rookie Numbers

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In case you missed it this spring, Bill Belichick was up to some new tricks with the rookies, not giving them numbers that fit their positions but instead just handing out numbers starting at 50 in order (h/t to NESN’s Doug Kyed for cracking that code).


Yup, right now the line in order of the picks, but still skipping the retired 56 (Andre Tippett) and 57 (Steve Nelson).

When training camp opens in 20 days everyone has to have actual numbers that fit their positions and even then players could again switch once cuts are made and other, better numbers become available. Yeah, it’s a good bet Christian Sam won’t be doubling up on 54 with Dont’a Hightower.

Let’s take a stab at which numbers would be good choices for the notable rookies.

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Ranking Potential Patriots Rookie Impacts

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Took a nice little vacation up to Maine this week, it was a good chance to unplug during a time where there’s just not much Patriots news to discuss. Most of my blogging comrades are firing out the usual suspects of articles, you know, previews of every random joe on the roster, way-too-early 53-man roster projections and the like. As John Wooden said, don’t mistake activity for achievement, so I’ve taken a less is more approach the last couple weeks.

Now that it’s July (almost) it’s time to start ramping things up, including in-depth looks at the training camp positional battles and a number of under-the-radar players that always seem to make an impact despite the Pats being atop the NFL year in and year out.

Today I’m kicking things off with the new guys, the rookies who can come in and start to reshape the team as they close in on the end of the Tom Brady era. These new rookies, coupled with a number of second-year players who had their rookie seasons cut short, should give the Pats the kind of youthful kick in the pants they really need.

Here’s my top 5 rookies to watch.

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Patriots 2018 Draft Recap

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After months of buildup, the 2018 NFL draft is now in the rearview mirror and Patriots fans can begin to focus on mini-camps, the June-July void and finally, training camp. The major pieces that will comprise the 2018 Patriots are in place, and while the draft was a trade-down-fest with plenty of fodder for sports talk shows, the team once again got a bunch of really good football players who will improve a team that came within one stop of their third Super Bowl title in four years for the second time.

When you think back to a decade ago, things were very different. The Patriots veteran defense was hanging on by a string in 2008, and when Tom Brady went down in the opening quarter of the season, the rebuild was jumpstarted. They missed the playoffs that season on a tie-break and would be upset at home in their first playoff games in both 2009 and 2010, before scrapping their way back into a Super Bowl in 2011. They haven’t missed a conference championship game since.

But now the Patriots have seen little-to-no dropoff on the offensive side of the ball. Brady has maintained his level of excellence even though the pieces around him continue to shift. Last year’s MVP performance was a crowning achievement even in the final game’s defeat. Yes, Brady has lost three Super Bowls, but 52 was just an epic performance by him.

The Patriots’ window is still very much open with Brady, but time is running out. How will these draft picks assimilate and help? Let’s take a big picture view.

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Patriots Draft CB Duke Dawson, Trade for OT Trent Brown on Draft Day Two

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You have to hand it to Bill Belichick. Every year even the most astute draft pundits are completely pretzeled by Belichick’s drafts, and this year has been more pretzel-inducing than most.

Look, I get it. He’s the genius… the best coach in history, he has a plan, knows what fits and will coach up an empty bag of potato chips and it should still be enough to win the AFC East and make a playoff run. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still pull our hair out wondering about all the moves he made.

Day Two of the 2018 NFL Draft began with the Patriots trading for offensive tackle Trent Brown, a hulking right tackle once called by Von Miller the best in the game. But he’s had injury issues and was supposedly way out of shape when he reported to San Fran this season, and with Marcus Cannon atop the right tackle depth chart (and a Patriots family favorite), along with the Day One selection of Isaiah Wynn, how exactly Brown fits in is very much up in the air. And the Pats paid a pretty hefty price, the 95th overall pick.

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