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My latest 53-man Patriots roster (8/21)

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Things are starting to shape up nicely. Here are the main problems I’m facing for the final roster spots:

  • Bolden is out for Demps. Maybe that’s a little “bold” but I don’t really see enough out of Bolden yet to think he’s ready to make an impact this year.
  • Fells gets on there because I think the lesson learned in the Super Bowl is that you can’t effectively run this offense if the tight ends aren’t 100%, and you need insurance. If ever there was a week to get healthy for Shiancoe this is it. Though he could still get on in place of Fells.
  • The only other place I see a way around this would be to carry a 4th tackle instead of Nick McDonald,  but I like McDonald more than I like Weems.
  • Brace is on, and so is Gerard Warren even though I think he’s an easy shadow roster candidate.
  • Myron Pryor stays on PUP, get healthy and we’ll see you in October.
  • Niko is on, love what I’ve seen out of him in the preseason. He plays nasty and can do a number of things.
  • Ihedigbo hanging by a thread.
  • If Dennard gets healthy he could make a push, neither Cole nor Moore were overly impressive last night.
  • Will Allen is just about a lock, especially with Chung showing his penchant for getting dinged again last night. He’s good all around veteran insurance.

Full 53-man roster after the jump…

QB (3) Tom Brady, Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett
RB (4) Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, Danny Woodhead, Jeff Demps
WR (6) Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd, Julian Edelman, Jabar Gaffney, Deion Branch, Matthew Slater
TE (3) Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez, Daniel Fells
C  (2) Ryan Wendell, Dan Connolly
G  (4) Logan Mankins, Brian Waters, Donald Thomas, Nick McDonald
T  (3) Sebastian Vollmer, Nate Solder, Marcus Cannon
DE (5) Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Trevor Scott, Jermaine Cunningham, Jake Bequette
DT (5) Vince Wilfork, Kyle Love, Brandon Deaderick, Gerard Warren, Ron Brace
ILB(3) Jerod Mayo, Brandon Spikes, Niko Koutouvides
OLB(2) Donta Hightower, Bobby Carpenter
CB (5) Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, Ras-I Dowling, Sterling Moore, Will Allen
SS (3) Patrick Chung, Tavon Wilson, James Ihedigbo
FS (2) Steve Gregory, Nate Ebner
ST (3) Stephen Gostkowski, Danny Aiken, Zoltan Mesko

Total players: 53
Created with Pats Picker: http://patspicker.patsfans.com

32 Teams in 32 Days: New England Patriots | ProFootballFocus.com

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32 Teams in 32 Days: New England Patriots | ProFootballFocus.com

Great stuff as always from Steve Palazzolo…

For years, Belichick-led defenses were generally praised for strong play up front, particularly in the linebacking corps. This hasn’t been the case recently, though the pieces may finally be in place for Belichick to relive his glory days. At linebacker, veteran Jerod Mayo is surrounded by third-year starter Brandon Spikes and rookie Dont’a Hightower who is built in a similar mold. Mayo is a solid ever-down player who feeds off Spikes’ ability to blow up offensive lineman and create room to roam and make tackles. Hightower was drafted to be a mix of both as he’s been lining up at every linebacker position on the defense. Belichick may finally have the linebacking pieces in place to run his defense at a high level.

Couple thoughts on the Fanene and Andre Carter

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Couple tidbits broke this morning, let’s start with Jonathan Fanene:

If you’re familiar with this blog you know that I’ve been banging the “Fanene’s gonna be a huge help with the interior rush” drum so this is definitely unfortunate news. Well, perhaps the unfortunate part is just that Fanene couldn’t get healthy.

The good news is that Ron Brace, Kyle Love, Brandon Deaderick and Jermaine Cunningham all look like they could provide a much-needed boost to the inside rush this year. However there’s no question that there’s still a need for Myron Pryor to get back on the field. At this point it’s starting to look more and more likely he’ll remain on the PUP list and sit out the first six weeks of the season. Almost hard to believe he hasn’t been able to play in nearly a year, guys come back faster than that from ACL tears.

Ever since fans saw Chandler Jones play well against the Saints the calls to bring Andre Carter back have gone nearly silent, and now he’s meeting with the Raiders. For most of the off-season it just seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Pats would wait for Carter to get healthy then sign him. Despite some reports that the Pats and Carter couldn’t agree on a deal it still seemed like things would come together.

But once Jones flashed it seems like Carter became the forgotten man. Add in Trevor Scott and Jermaine Cunningham also showing up in practices and games and it made it seem even less likely that the Pats need Carter. There’s no question he was one of the MVPs of the defense last year and everyone loved what he brought to the team on and off the field. But it looks like the youth movement is in full swing and Chandler Jones needs to be on the field as much as possible.

Still, Carter was a lot of fun to root for even if it was just for that one season…

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The Patriots defense deserves praise for hanging tough against the Eagles, as Philadelphia sent out most of its regulars (including Michael Vick until his injury) for extensive reps on Monday night. Though the Patriots surrendered 14 first-half points, all of them were scored off turnovers that stranded the defense deep in its own territory. The secondary did well to not let up any big gains, and although LeSean McCoy was productive in the running game in the first half, he was unable to break free for chunk yardage.

Picked-up pieces from 2nd quarter review – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/the-patriots-defense-deserves-praise-for-hanging/