The New England Patriots have plenty of decisions to make before having to submit a final 53-man roster to the NFL before Week 1 of the regular season, but that doesn't mean the team is only keeping an eye on the competition playing out on the Gillette Stadium field.
Hundreds of players will be cut before teams have to set their 53-man rosters prior to the Aug. 31 deadline at 4 p.m. ET, and if the Patriots are interested in signing one of the available players, there's a good chance the team's front office will have the information head coach Bill Belichick needs to make the most informed decision possible.
"I think Nick (Caserio) and Dave Ziegler and the guys in that department do a great job," Belichick told reporters Monday at Gillette Stadium. "I think they're on top of it. I can ask them about any player in the league and they can tell me what that player's situation is, who he's in competition with, how he's looked, what game's he's played in, better than last year, not as good as last year. Whatever it is, they'll be on all of those guys. And at thirteen hundred guys or whatever, there'll be some kind of transaction.
"With thirteen hundred-plus that'll have a transaction here in the next few days, there'll be very few – if any – guys that we'll – we'll be way over the thirteen hundred. We're looking at maybe thirteen hundred and then some guys are going to make it, some guys aren't, but the guys that are there will be on. So I'd be surprised if there's somebody in that group that we haven't looked at tape on, had a preseason evaluation on, and that we're not up to speed with. That's what the pro personnel department does."
The Patriots have been busy trimming their roster ahead of this weekend's deadline. Defensive tackle Mike Pennel reportedly was informed he'll be released, which wasn't a massive surprise given how late into the third preseason game he was playing. New England also released wide receiver Maurice Harris, waived DE/OLB Keionta Davis, put special teamer Brandon King on injured reserve and signed linebacker Scooby Wright and running back Robert Martin, according to various reports.
The third preseason game typically is the most important when it comes to players on the roster bubble winning (or losing) jobs, but the Patriots still have one more preseason matchup Thursday night against the New York Giants. Due to injuries and suspensions, a couple spots on the roster could be impacted by the performances of certain players versus the Giants.
"That depends on what happens Thursday night. I don't know," Belichick said when asked if jobs could still be won Thursday night. "Look, there's a lot of moving parts at this time of year, so I don't know. I don't think anybody really knows. Some may. There's other factors externally that could affect us as well, and we don't know what those are. So we'll just see how it goes, try to put together the most competitive team we can this year, and I don't know how exactly that's going to work out."
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