Classic Belichick: Patriots place N'Keal Harry on IR, re-sign Demaryius Thomas
Well this will go down as yet another classic Bill Belichick move. The 2019 Patriots 53-man roster has been finalized and for about a day and a half, Demaryius Thomas was not on it.
When news first broke out the release of Thomas, I was very surprised. Thomas looked like he was getting back to his old form and hell, I even wrote an article about how well he was going to fit in with the offense. But as it turned out, Bill released Thomas with full intention of bringing him back. Cutting down to the 53-man roster is a difficult process as teams often have to cut players they would normally like to keep, but that is just the nature of the league.
In order to keep Thomas, he had to clear waivers and New England would have to move somebody to clear room, in this case it was rookie wideout N'Keal Harry. Harry was placed on short-term IR, which forces him to sit out the first 8 weeks of the season (he can return to practice after 6 weeks). While all of us have been dying to see the Brady Harry connection, this is not the worst thing that could've happened. The rookie has been dealing with a nagging hamstring/ankle injury since week 1 of the pre-season, so it makes sense to let him rest and completely heal.
Also, the fact that his replacement is going to be a healthy veteran Demaryius Thomas, I'm not sweating this one too hard.
As it currently stands, Tom Brady's weapons against the Steelers will be Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, Philip Dorsett, Demaryius Thomas and Jakobi Meyers. My personal favorite guy in Gunner Olszewski will likely take over as the new punt return specialist as well.
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