The Patriots final roster, satisfied?
The Patriots trimmed their roster to 52 today, while they actually only needed to go to 53. Obviously this leaves a lot of room for tweaking as a Pats roster never stays idle for long.
Deion Branch highlights these moves as the Patriots are now extremely thin at Wide Receiver. Of course, I would not expect that to stick. The Patriots will add someone, whether thats by bringing back Deion Branch or Jabar Gaffney or picking someone up off of waivers. That extra roster spot they have open could come in handy.
Earlier today I combined seven 53-man roster projections from major Patriots beat writers, and used them to determine who was projected to make the team, and who would qualify as a surprise. Now that we know what the final cut down looks like, let's see how they all did.
In case you didn't read that piece (you should take a look at the link) collected here are the final 53 by ESPNBoston's Mike Reiss, Mike Rodak and Field Yates, The Boston Herald's Karen Guregian, Patriots Football Weekly's Andy Hart, Boston.com's Greg Bedard and WEEI's Christopher Price.
Quarterbacks
Tom Brady (7/7, 100%)
Ryan Mallett (7/7, 100%)
Cut: Brian Hoyer (6/7, 86%)
Andy Hart was the lone Nostradamus here as he was the only one who predicted that Brian Hoyer would not make the roster.
Running backs
Stevan Ridley (7/7, 100%)
Shane Vereen (7/7, 100%)
Danny Woodhead (7/7, 100%)
Brandon Bolden (7/7, 100%)
IR: Jeff Demps (7/7, 100%)
No one saw Jeff Demps landing on IR, he was on everyone's roster.
Fullbacks
none
No one had Eric Kettani making the cut.
Tight ends
Rob Gronkowski (7/7, 100%)
Aaron Hernandez (7/7, 100%)
Daniel Fells (7/7, 100%)
Visanthe Shiancoe (0/7, 0%)
Cut: Alex Silvestro (0/7, 0%)
Tyler Urban (0/7, 0%)
Shiancoe stands out here, though he could be placed on the new temporary IR. Not a single person picked him to still be on the roster at this point, as he's barely practiced due to injury.
Wide receiver
Wes Welker (7/7, 100%)
Brandon Lloyd (7/7, 100%)
Julian Edelman (7/7, 100%)
Matthew Slater (7/7, 100%)
Update: Greg Sallas (via trade)
Cut: Deion Branch (7/7, 100%)
Kerry Taylor (0/7, 0%)
Jesse Holley (0/7, 0%)
Jeremy Ebert (0/7, 0%)
Deion Branch being cut was perhaps the biggest shock of the day, everyone had him on their roster. They were correct in predicting that Ebert, Holley and Taylor would not make it though.
Offensive line
Nate Solder (7/7, 100%)
Sebastian Vollmer (7/7, 100%)
Marcus Cannon (7/7, 100%)
Logan Mankins (7/7, 100%)
Dan Connolly (7/7, 100%)
Ryan Wendell (7/7, 100%)
Donald Thomas (6/7, 86%)
Nick McDonald (3/7, 43%)
UPDATE: Matt Tennant (claimed off waivers)
Cut: Dan Koppen (4/7, 57%)
Matt Kopa (1/7, 14%)
Jeremiah Warren (0/7, 0%)
Derek Dennis (0/7, 0%)
Dustin Waldron (0/7, 0%)
Darrion Weems (0/7, 0%)
Hasn't reported: Brian Waters (3/7, 43%)
Three surprises here. Dan Koppen's cut was only predicted by ESPNBoston's bloggers, as he appeared on everyone else's predictions. Andy Hart was the only one who didn't predict Donald Thomas to make it. Nick McDonald was left off the rosters of Mike Reiss, Karen Guregian, Greg Bedard and Christopher Price. Though, to be fair, Reiss and Price both noted that McDonald could stick contingent on Brian Waters.
Defensive tackle
Vince Wilfork (7/7, 100%)
Kyle Love (7/7, 100%)
Ron Brace (7/7, 100%)
Brandon Deaderick (7/7, 100%)
Marcus Forston (0/7, 0%)
Cut: Marcus Harrison (0/7, 0%)
The undrafted rookie Forston making the final cut is not foreseen by anyone. They nail the rest though.
Defensive end
Chandler Jones (7/7, 100%)
Rob Ninkovich (7/7, 100%)
Jermaine Cunningham (7/7, 100%)
Trevor Scott (6/7, 86%)
Justin Francis (4/7, 57%)
Jake Bequette (7/7, 100%)
Cut: Aaron Lavarias (0/7, 0%)
Trevor Scott was only left off by Karen Guregian. While Field Yates, Greg Bedard and Christopher Price incorrectly leave Francis off of their predictions.
Linebacker
Jerod Mayo (7/7, 100%)
Brandon Spikes (7/7, 100%)
Dont'a Hightower (7/7, 100%)
Tracy White (2/7, 29%)
Mike Rivera (0/7, 0%)
Cut:Jeff Tarpinian (6/7, 86%)
Niko Koutouvides (5/7, 71%)
Bobby Carpenter (7/7, 100%) (Cut on Saturday)
A lot of surprises here. First of all, Jeff Tarpinian was seen by everyone except Field Yates as someone who would make the roster. Kudos to Mr. Yates, who also (along with Christopher Price) picked Tracy White to make the roster. Andy Hart and Price were the only ones to predict that Niko Koutivdes would not make the list. Mike Rivera was a surprise to everyone.
Cornerback
Devin McCourty (7/7, 100%)
Kyle Arrington (7/7, 100%)
Ras-I Dowling (7/7, 100%)
Marquice Cole (7/7, 100%)
Sterling Moore (6/7, 86%)
Alfonzo Dennard (4/7, 57%)
Cut: None
Mike Reiss, Greg Bedard, Andy Hart and Chris Price get the call right on Dennard making the team. I thought that one was a no-brainer as there's no way Dennard would've lasted on waivers. Reiss left Sterling Moore off his prediction thinking that it came down to Dennard and him.
Safety
Patrick Chung (7/7, 100%)
Steve Gregory (7/7, 100%)
Tavon Wilson (7/7, 100%)
Nate Ebner (7/7, 100%)
Cut: James Ihedigbo (5/7, 71%)
Sergio Brown (1/7, 14%)
Derrick Martin (0/7, 0%)
Malcolm Williams (0/7, 0%)
Mike Reiss and Christopher Price correctly predicted that James Ihedigbo would be left off. Reiss was the only who thought that Sergio Brown had a shot.
Specialists
Stephen Gostkowski (7/7, 100%)
Zoltan Mesko (7/7, 100%)
Danny Aiken (7/7, 100%)
Not much to say here, there was no competition at these spots.
What are your thoughts?
