The First Configuration

The dust won’t settle for a few days. New England will get down to the 53-man roster by 4:00pm but there will be more to come in the next few days. The Patriots aren’t the only team making difficult decisions about the end of the roster.

Three Quarterbacks

So, it looks like Ryan Mallett has held onto his roster spot but Roy Finch and Jeremy Gallon have not. I really don’t want to see Gallon catching passes for the Jets or Finch breaking off big running plays for the Dolphins but maybe that won’t happen. Yes, I feel irrationally bitter about how this is playing out.

So, Jimmy Garoppolo flew a little too close to the sun and came crashing back to earth in Met Life Stadium in preseason game #4. He held the ball a little too long at times and misfired on a few passes but he also had a few wow moments (a scrambling sidearm connection to Jeremy Gallon, the TD pass to Aaron Dobson, the wheel route to James White) that had me wondering if I’d ever seen Ryan Mallett look this good. If I’m Belichick I would’ve had Nick Caserio locked in his office and I wouldn’t be letting him out until he’s found a trade partner willing to give up a draft pick. Pee in your coffee cup if you have to, Caserio! I’m not letting you out till you’ve got a 4^th round pick for me!

Or the 4:00pm deadline passes.

Is Jimmy G. ready to take over the starting QB gig if Brady is lost to injury? No. Not really. Not yet. But neither is Ryan Mallett and unlike Garoppolo he’s clearly not going to be in Patriots 2015 team picture. I get that quarterback is the most important position on the field but I don’t get the argument that Mallett is a better Plan B than Garoppolo.

I’d rather have Finch or Gallon or Jonas Gray or even Jon Halapio or Josh – okay wait, not Josh Boyce. I just don’t see guys like Finch, Gallon or Halapio making it through waivers to the practice squad. Maybe Gray does. If Josh Boyce does clear waivers, will Belichick offer him a spot on the practice squad?

Just five linebackers…

According to WEEI’s It Is What It Is blog, the Patriots are keeping just five linebackers; starters Jerod Mayo, Dont’a Hightower and Jamie Collins with backups Darius Fleming and Chris White. Ja’Gared Davis had made a number of pigskin pundits and bobbleheads roster projections because of his special teams value; Steve Beauharnais hadn’t exactly made a second year leap but he had shown some improvement but neither of them could convince Belichick to add a sixth linebacker to the roster.

Does this mean more of a 3-4 base with Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich standing up as outside linebackers? Maybe. I think it’s better to think of a front seven for New England’s defense than to worry about 3-4 vs. 4-3. The Patriots will have a game plan line-up of Cha-Cha Jones, Ninkovich, Mayo, Hightower, Collins, Vince Wilfork, Dominique Easley, Sealver Siliga, Chris Jones and Joe Vellano with Michael Buchanan and Zach Moore as rotational pieces in 5- 6- and 7-man configurations. In the 3-4, Collins can give Cha-Cha and Ninko a rest. Hightower can put his hand in the dirt – Hightower and Easley at DE and Wilfork at NT in a 3-4 could be highly disruptive to opposing offensive game plans. Flip Ninkovich with Hightower in that line up with Mayo and Collins inside and Cha-Cha at the left OLB.

The point is that whether the Pats go 3-4 or 4-3, that sixth linebacker probably was going to be a game day inactive. The decisions at linebacker probably have more to do with keeping a fifth safety.

What about the O-Line?

Hard to top the Mankins trade but how about the notion of moving Sebastian Vollmer inside to guard? You know when "pro bowl tackles moving to guard for the good of the team" stories happen? During championship years, that’s when they happen. Rather than a desperation move in the wake of Mankins’ departure, this seems to me to have more to do with Marcus Cannon than the Mankins-sized hole at left guard. The Patriots would be wasting the last year of Cannon’s contract if he spends it on the bench as a swing tackle. Cannon has played well at right tackle in Vollmer’s absence and despite the uncertainty in the middle of the O-Line didn’t take a single snap at guard during the preseason. Apparently, Marcus Cannon is genetically incapable of playing offensive guard! What to do? How about an offensive front of Nate Solder, Vollmer, Ryan Wendell (Bryan Stork?), Dan Connolly and Cannon? That’s probably their five best offensive linemen (Solder, Vollmer, Connolly, Kline, Cannon?) and it would be ideal to get them on the field together in some configuration.

Keep Brady clean and the rest will take care of itself.

Regrets, I’ve had a few…

As noted above Beauharnais was a mild surprise. His name will be added to the list of poor draft day decisions by Bill Belichick haters posting under pseudonyms on message boards, as will Jake Bequette’s. Perhaps Josh Boyce belongs on that list, too. Should Jon Halapio’s name be added? I don’t know; how many 6^th round picks do you expect to make the roster of a championship caliber team, anyway? I guess we shouldn’t forget about Jemea Thomas, another 6^th round pick, in that context.

I would’ve rather seen Roy Finch than Brandon Bolden or James White at RB4 but what about Jonas Gray, who outplayed James White and Finch in the preseason? As much as I was intrigued by his potential, it’s hard to find a place for Jeremy Gallon in a position group so deep they’ve got Brian Tyms waiting in PED timeout to join the team as a 6^th wide receiver in Week 5. As noted above, tough for a 7^th round pick to find a spot on a team like the Pats, especially when they spend most of training camp rehabbing an undisclosed injury.

I suppose cutting recent trade acquisition Jerel Worthy is noteworthy but since it saves the Patriots a conditional draft pick, it’s hardly surprising. Would he take a spot on the practice squad in New England? He might think he’s better than that. Then again, if he clears waivers, perhaps he should take a step back and re-assess.

The rest of the cuts weren’t unexpected. Except for long-snapper Danny Aiken, who turned out to be the 54^th man today.

More to come…

Belichick is never done trying to make the Patriots a better team; he will certainly make a few more moves over the next week. Based on past performance, we could see as many as a dozen more roster moves before the Pats board a plane for Miami. Clearly, the Patriots won’t open the season without a full-time long-snapper. What if Aiken is claimed? Has Belichick decided he’ll just go for two after all touchdowns in 2014? Has Tyler Ott been hanging out locally, working the counter at a local Dunkin’ Donuts, waiting for the call Bill Belichick promised him would eventually come?

Could this mean a trade involving Ryan Mallett is still a possibility?

Yeah, it’s time for me to let that go.