Saturday Patriots Headlines: September 4th
There a very limited amount of headlines this morning from the local media, with the focus clearly on what's about to happen later on this afternoon.
Today is the day that all NFL teams need to cut down to the 53-man roster limit, so we'll obviously be keeping an eye on who stays and who is released when the Patriots finally do complete their transactions.
There were a few moves made yesterday, with the team cutting defensive lineman Damione Lewis, along with tight ends Rob Myers and Carson Butler. Lewis struggled to really fit in the system, so it appears that Gerard Warren is likely the guy who beat him out for a roster spot. As for the tight ends there's no real surprise, since and it had become pretty apparent that barring an injury, it was going to be Alge Crumpler, Rob Gronkowski, and Aaron Hernandez as the three tight ends who would make the roster.
The team also cut guard Eric Ghiaciuc, with other published reports feeling that we'll see someone else replace him once today's moves are completed. We'll be keeping an eye out later today to see who they sign as a potential replacement.
ESPN's Mike Reiss and Mike Rodak have dual projections of how the roster may shape out later today, with some interesting notes as to some of the surprise guys who they feel may end up sticking around.
Rich Garven of the Worcester Telegram has an article on today's projected cuts, and gives his take on how the roster will shape up.
Shalise Manza Young of the Boston Globe gives her take on the roster, and also has some interesting notes as to who may be battling to grab a spot with the team.
Young also has an interesting article on what it's like for the players to sit around and wait to hear of what their fate will be, with Marques Murrell providing some good quotes in this article.
Ian Rapoport also has a great article in a similar piece, with some good quotes from Darnell Jenkins, who told Rapoport that he's pretty nervous about today.
Rapoport also has an article on wide receiver Wes Welker, who after an entire offseason and training camp of talking about his knee, is ready to move on and is done with all the injury talk.
Jeff Howe of NESN.com has a good article this morning on back up quarterback Brian Hoyer, who has gained plenty of confidence and feels that he belongs in the NFL.
And finally Mike Reiss has an article this morning on a topic that hasn't been discussed much early, and that's Tom Brady's contract. Reiss feels that the time to get a deal done is now, with the two sides having had more than enough time with over a year to work things out.
That's it for this morning, but we'll obviously have the news of who's on the way out later on today once the final cuts are announced.