More to come?
More to come.
Cut down day gave us plenty to think about. While we wait to see if Austin Carr can make it through waivers to the Patriots practice squad, let's consider what's already happened.
The Patriots Offense Got Faster
The trade that sent Jacoby Brissett to the Colts for underperforming former 1st round pick Phillip Dorsett adds another burner to New England's wide receiver position group. Dorsett is a legit 4.3s guy in the 40 with a 6.7s time in the 3-cone drill. He joins an already impressive array of game-breaking deep threats in Brandin Cooks, Chris Hogan, and Rob Gronkowski. Is it possible to get all four of those guys plus James White (Dorsett's former high school teammate!) on the field at the same time? (Wait, I need to take my fingers off the keyboard to do the math.) Yes, the rules of football would allow for that.
No Surprise There Were Plenty of Surprises
After his "greatest preseason game of all time," it was certainly a surprise to see Brissett get traded. In terms of straight up cuts, Brandon Bolden and Ted Karras certainly stand out.
After years of trying to figure out what the hell Bill Belichick saw in Brandon Bolden, the local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads had seemingly given up. The gridiron cognoscenti consensus had Bolden on the roster: Core 4 special teamer who wouldn't wet himself if pressed into action at running back. With the depth at running back and other options in the kicking game, Bolden finally became expendable.
As for Karras, he started the off-season as "they can do better," the turned in a solid training camp and preseason and seemed to have locked up the backup guard/center role only to lose out to undrafted free agent Cole Croston in the final cuts. Croston has shown he's capable of playing all five offensive line positions and does come from Belichick BFF Kirk Ferentz's Iowa program. He also has a really tough guy-sounding name. Cole Croston. There's got to be a story about how when he was a kid and the mule was sick, he strapped on the harness and pulled the plow himself.
My man-crush Jacob Hollister getting the nod over James O'Shaughnessy for the 3rd tight end spot is also a little bit of a surprise. This seems like a move for the future as it seems unlikely Hollister will play much in 2017 (barring injuries, of course). In the pigskin calculus of Bill Belichick, it would seem athletic, pass-catching tight ends are much more likely to be claimed on waivers than slot receivers like Austin Carr.
Carr's cut hardly qualifies as a surprise. He was a long shot to make the Final 53 before the Dorsett trade. Except for the local pigskin pundits and bobbleheads who kept trying to find ways to put their "this year's UDFA who makes it" crush on the roster. The Julian Edelman injury seemed to open a spot. Worries about injury with Danny Amendola and Malcolm Mitchell seemed to argue for a fifth true wide receiver. It turned out the pigskin pundits and bobbleheads were right about that fifth true wide receiver, just not about Austin Carr. Keeping Carr on the practice squad would be great but I still don't think he gets past the Jets on the waiver wire.
Another small surprise for me was seeing Shea McClellin's name on the Final 53 but I guess he could still wind up on Injured Reserve. With Belichick picking up a ST/LB in Marquis Flowers it just read like McClellin or Nate Ebner would be placed in IR/Return. Ebner was spotted at practices on Saturday but not McClellin. Does anyone know what's been keeping this guy off the field? Would someone please ask Bill? I'm sure he'd be happy to remind everyone that he's not a doctor.
Finally, the addition of Cassius Marsh via trade with the Seahawks for a 5th and 7th rounder. This one falls in the surprise category because who the hell is Cassius Marsh? And who are this guy's parents? Are they Shakespeare scholars? Are their other children named Marcus and Calpurnia? But I digress. The real question is whether or not Marsh can help on the EDGE for the Patriots. He did register 3 sacks for Seattle in a part-time role last year while playing in all 16 games. Oh, and you probably already guessed this, but he also has value on special teams.
Another name I'd never heard before Belichick traded for him is Johnson Bademosi, a special teams specialist who was toiling in anonymity (at least from my perspective) in Cincinnati. Another great name guy (a lot to work with in "Bademosi" - I'm hoping his nickname is "Bad Day"), I've since learned that Bademosi is a special teams standout, he went to Stanford (one of Belichick's favorite college programs) and was a former pick of Belichick BFF Michael Lombardi during his days in Cleveland. Bademosi has a sub-7s 3-cone drill time and 4.4ish mark in the 40. Though he probably won't take many snaps on defense, he does have the size Belichick seems to be looking for these days at DB.
Practice Makes Perfect
We still don't have any news on signings for the practice squad. I also haven't seen anything regarding other teams signing up D.J. Foster, Devin Lucien, Austin Carr, Kenny Moore, Ted Karras or any of the other players we presume they'd like to keep. Presuming they would like to stay, of course. Carr might be thinking, "Hey, a year in the system and Amendola is probably going to retire after this year so I'm sticking around." Foster and Lucien may be thinking there's got to be a better opportunity somewhere else. Moore will be claimed because (a) the Jets and (b) defensive backs just don't make it through to the Patriots practice squad. As for Karras and the rest of Saturday's cuts? Just remember there are ex-Pats running the show in Detroit (a poetic destination for Karras?), Tennessee, and Tampa Bay.
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