For Now The Patriots' 53-Man Roster Is Set, With Some Surprises

It's a long weekend, basically the last taste of summer, so you're excused if your head is spinning from all the moves the Patriots made the last few days to whittle down their roster to 53 players plus start to assemble a practice squad. Obviously the big news on Saturday was that Tim Tebow was released (I was wrong!) while Adrian Wilson was placed on IR and Zoltan Mesko was cut.

This afternoon, the Pats continued to make some interesting choices as Leon Washington and Marquice Cole were released. Oh and Gronk practiced in full pads for the first time. To fill out their active roster, New England claimed four players off waivers: center Braxston Cave, guard Chris Barker and defensive tackle A.J. Francis who are all rookies along with third-year linebacker Chris White.

I thought Tebow would make the roster simply because he had Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick in his corner but seeing how much he struggled in the preseason, you have to wonder if he'll ever play in the NFL again. Rookie Ryan Allen beat out Mesko who had been solid for the last few years. It's hard to believe that Gronk would play in Week 1 or 2 (short turnaround for Thursday home opener vs. Jets) but the fact that he's ramping up his activities in practice can only be a good thing.

There are seven spots on a practice squad and so far the Pats have signed five guys: linebackers Ja'Gared Davis and Jeff Tarpinian, defensive lineman Marcus Forston, safety Kanorris Davis and cornerback Justin Green.

We've made it, thus begins the first week leading up to the opener on Sunday (1 p.m., CBS) at Buffalo. During the regular season, I'll post the injury report on Friday then update it before kickoff. Also, I'll keep up to date on any other news that happens during the week. Looking forward to it all, football's back!

UPDATE 9/3: On Monday, the Patriots resigned Cole and waived undrafted rookie guard Josh Kline. Also, fullback James Develin was released and tight end Matthew Mulligan is expected to be signed after New England worked him out on Monday. Undrafted rookie offensive lineman R.J. Dill was added to the practice squad so there is one spot left on that.

UPDATE 9/5: Kline was resigned to the practice squad and linebacker Jeff Tarpinian (the new Ross Ventrone?) was released from the practice squad.

UPDATE: Cave and Mulligan were released while offensive tackle Jordan Devey was signed to the practice squad. Develin reportedly will be re-signed, leaving the Pats with one open roster spot heading into Friday (two days before the season opener in Buffalo).

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Patriots Wrap Up A Busy Day With A Great Signing: Safety Adrian Wilson For 3 Years

Apparently if the Patriots can get free agents to Foxborough for a whirlwind tour, they can properly woo them which often results in signing a deal. One day after inking Leon Washington and a few hours after bringing aboard Donald Jones, New England made their biggest splash yet of this young offseason by signing safety Adrian Wilson to a three-year deal.

A team captain with the Cardinals, he played 12 years in the desert before getting released earlier this month. Wilson made five Pro Bowls (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) and he was a first-team All-Pro in 2009 as well. He was available because he is 33 and will be 34 in October. That's a lot of wear and tear on such a physical player (6-foot-3, 222 pounds) that's known for his big hits.

I'm not saying he'll be Rodney Harrison since Rodney was a little younger when he came to New England so he had more of his career ahead of him but I feel like there are some similarities with Wilson in terms of great players that performed in anonymity on bad teams for years. Wilson has only appeared in six career playoff games, all of which were in either 2008 and 2009.

Wilson is one of only six players in NFL history to record 25+ sacks (25.5) and 25+ interceptions (27). In 15 games with Arizona last season (14 starts), he had 39 solo tackles, 15 assists, five passes defensed, one interception, one fumble forced and three sacks.

There are plenty of other safeties on the roster for 2013: Devin McCourty, Steve Gregory, Tavon Wilson and Nate Ebner but Adrian Wilson might still be the best one of them all. Even if he can't be counted on as a full-time starter anymore, I can see him being used often in sub packages (nickel, dime) and passing situations. Seeing him with McCourty would be nice and hopefully he can help the promising but very raw Tavon Wilson (no relation) to develop. I think Gregory is awful so I want him cut while Ebner is only a special teams guy.


Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Patriots Sign Donald Jones, Bring Back Kyle Arrington For Four More Years

Thanks to Twitter and the fine work of tireless NFL writers, we can all feel like ESPN's Adam Schefter with all the non-stop action in terms of NFL free agency. Today, the Patriots signed former Bills wide receiver Donald Jones (terms of the contract weren't known) and re-signed cornerback Kyle Arrington to a four-year deal.

In addition to those moves, running back Danny Woodhead signed a two-year deal with San Diego and the Patriots hosted free agent wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders ( I like him better than Jones but he's nothing special), defensive ends John Abraham and Dwight Freeney along with safety Adrian Wilson. If you need to sit down for a second or stop looking at the computer screen, I understand. Can you say ice cream headache? Woodhead will be missed but with Leon Washington, his role was basically eliminated.

Jones won't set the world on fire but he registered career-highs in catches (43), receiving yards (443) and receiving touchdowns (4) last season in Buffalo with the erratic Ryan Fitzpatrick throwing him the ball. The Pats obviously saw him up close and personal the last three years and he had two solid performances against them in 2012: he combined for eight catches, 164 receiving yards and two touchdowns (1 in each game). He set a career-long with a 68-yard catch against New England in Buffalo in Week 4. Hopefully, he can learn the playbook quickly and find a connection with Tom Brady. It could do wonders for his career, we'll have to wait and see.

Arrington fell to third on the Pats cornerback depth chart last season after they acquired Aqib Talib and the emergence of rookie Alfonzo Dennard. Now, Talib is a free agent (who knows if he'll return) and Dennard is potentially facing jail time, they had to bring Arrington back since he's young (26) and entering his fifth year in New England's system. He's durable since he's played 16 games in each of the last three seasons and versatile because he also plays on special teams. His seven interceptions in 2011 seems like a random blip since he had zero interceptions last season but I have no problem with a few more years of Arrington.

Moving forward, the Patriots need to keep bringing in talent on defense. Veterans like Abraham, Freeney and Wilson are all appealing since while they might be a bit long in the tooth, they can still make plays and most importantly, they can bring the leadership that they side of the ball desperately needs with so many young but important guys on the team (Devin McCourty, Chandler Jones, Brandon Spikes, Dont'a Hightower, etc).

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate