Every Year At Cutdown Day, We're Reminded That The NFL Is The Coldest Sport Of Them All

At this point, basically nothing surprises me when it comes to the Patriots trimming their roster down to 53 players before the start of every regular season.

Still, even though we all saw Dan Koppen's release coming (he has nothing left), Brian Hoyer getting let go was a surprise and saying goodbye to Deion Branch was borderline shocking. Additionally, Jeff Demps was placed on IR and he's not on the 53-man roster which means he can't return this season under the new rule.

First things first, with Koppen and Branch gone, now Tom Brady is the only Patriot left who started for them in Super Bowl XXXVIII and XXXIX (pours out Sam Adams in the gutter). Clearly Branch had lost a step or two the last few seasons but I think we all figured that after the Pats let Jabar Gaffney and Donte' Stallworth walk earlier this preseason, that he had won the No. 3 wide receiver spot. Turns out, that position is basically irrelevant since Julian Edelman will fill it followed by Matthew Slater.

There is always the chance that Gaffney or Branch could return later in the season since New England wouldn't have to pay them as much or God forbid Wes Welker, Brandon Lloyd, Edelman, etc get hurt.

Seeing Hoyer leave isn't a big deal in itself, he is at best average but it means at least for now that Ryan Mallett is Brady's backup quarterback. Gulp. Have you seen Ryan Mallett play football? He looked woefully overmatched in preseason games against scrubs.

Speaking of nobodies, these are the rest of the players released by the Patriots to get to 53: safety Sergio Brown, guard Derek Dennis, receiver Jeremy Ebert, receiver Jesse Holley, fullback Eric Kettani, safety James Ihedigbo, offensive lineman Matt Kopa, linebacker Niko Koutouvides, linebacker Aaron Lavarias, defensive back Derrick Martin, tight end Alex Silvestro, linebacker Jeff Tarpinian, receiver Kerry Taylor, tight end Tyler Urban, offensive lineman Dustin Waldron, guard Jeremiah Warren, offensive tackle Darrion Weems and defensive back Malcolm Williams.

New England is actually down to 52 players so expect them to make at least one roster move and claim someone off waivers that was released by another NFL team.

Almost all of those guys are what I would describe as August heroes, they got a majority of the time in preseason games but you'd be in big trouble if they actually had to see the field in the regular season. Of that list, Ihedigbo is probably the biggest name since he played 67% of the defensive snaps in 2011, not to mention plenty of special teams. Here's hoping the UMass product and Northampton native finds a new NFL home. He proved that he can definitely play in the league.

UPDATE 9/1: Patriots defensive back Ross Ventrone received an injury settlement and was released from injured reserve on Friday, a source confirmed.

Since the injury settlement occurred within five days of being placed on injured reserve, Ventrone is eligible to return to New England later this season.

Ventrone can return six weeks after the length of his injury settlement, which was unspecified.

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