See You Later Guys On The Bottom Of The Patriots' Roster

The prospect of summer ending is always rough-no matter how old you are-when you live in New England with our unforgiving winters but on the other hand, watching the Patriots' latest regular season roster take shape under Bill Belichick is always similar to viewing a renowned piece of modern art.

With the 4 p.m. deadline coming tomorrow to get down to 75 players, three players' names were leaked as the Patriots trimmed three useless guys to get down to 82 this afternoon. Say goodbye (at least temporarily) to safety Josh Barrett, defensive lineman Gerard Warren and unofficial team mascot Ross Ventrone.

Barrett's limited action on the field last season was nothing short of a disaster. Add to that, he's always injured so he had no chance of making this team with Steve Gregory and rookie Tavon Wilson ahead of him. Warren was cut last year too but returned later in the season so I wouldn't be surprised if they bring the old man back once someone else inevitably goes down on the defensive line. Finally, Ventrone still has practice squad eligibility left (don't ask me how) so you can count on 1000 more transactions with him in 2012. I hope they haven't moved his cot out of one of the team's storage closets since I heard that's where he lives during the season.

Stay tuned tomorrow as I update this with the seven more unlucky guys that get cut. Don't expect any big names or seemingly important players to go. That'll happen after the last preseason game which is on Wednesday at the Giants. We are now less than two weeks away from the start of the 2012 regular season. I had my first (and by far most important) fantasy football draft earlier tonight so I can officially say that it is football season now, that's where my mind is headed.

UPDATE 8/27: Defensive lineman Tim Bulman (a BC High and BC product), wide receiver Donte' Stallworth and fullback Spencer Larsen have reportedly been released with injured tight end Jake Ballard placed on the reserve/PUP list.

The first surprise was that wide receiver Jabar Gaffney was released. Cornerback Will Allen, Larsen and Barrett were all placed on IR. Defensive lineman Myron Pryor was put on the reserve/PUP list. Rookie free agent offensive lineman Markus Zusevics was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list. Finally, the team claimed wide receiver Kerry Taylor off waivers from the Vikings.

UPDATE 8/28: Ventrone cleared waivers so he's now on IR.

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Addition By Subtraction: Josh Barrett Placed On Injured Reserve

We all know how terrible the New England Patriots secondary has been this season. Still, I'd say that it's a good thing that safety Josh Barrett was placed on injured reserve today with a calf injury.

He hasn't faced much heat from the media but Barrett (14 tackles in 5 games) has been awful. The times that he's been on the field for the Pats, you can always count on him missing tackles or completely blowing assignments. Again, New England doesn't have many suitable replacements but can they be much worse than him?

The team resigned linebacker Niko Koutouvides (who was around during the preseason) and cornerback Sterling Moore, adding them to the 53-man roster. Koutovides could see playing time with Brandon Spikes' injury while Moore will be on special teams.

For the practice squad, linebacker Mike Rivera, safety Ross Ventrone and cornerback Josh Victorian were added to the eight-man team while cornerback Malcolm Williams was released.

Got it all?

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