During their month-long summer vacation, the New England Patriots shook up their 53-man roster by signing one player, releasing two and losing another to retirement.
With training camp kicking off (football pun) Thursday, there’s no time like the present to take another crack at a 53-man roster projection.
QUARTERBACKS (3)
Tom Brady
Jacoby Brissett
Jimmy Garoppolo
Brissett showed plenty of improvement during spring practices. The Patriots are hoping to see more of that in training camp.
RUNNING BACKS (4)
Rex Burkhead
Mike Gillislee
Dion Lewis
James White
D.J. Foster is trying to burst through the roster bubble. If he can replicate his spring success in training camp and preseason, he might do just that. It also was tough to leave off Brandon Bolden.
WIDE RECEIVERS (6)
Danny Amendola
Brandin Cooks
Julian Edelman
Chris Hogan
Malcolm Mitchell
ST Matthew Slater
No surprises here. The wide receiver picture became even clearer when Andrew Hawkins announced his retirement Tuesday.
TIGHT ENDS (4)
Dwayne Allen
FB James Develin
Rob Gronkowski
James O’Shaughnessy
O’Shaughnessy will try to fend off Jacob Hollister, Matt Lengel and Sam Cotton for the third tight end spot in training camp.
OFFENSIVE LINE (8)
David Andrews
Marcus Cannon
Cameron Fleming
Antonio Garcia
Ted Karras
Shaq Mason
Nate Solder
Joe Thuney
We’re leaving Conor McDermott off the roster for now. An injury anywhere could change that.
DEFENSIVE LINE (9)
DT Alan Branch
DT Malcom Brown
DE Kony Ealy
DE Trey Flowers
DT Lawrence Guy
DE Rob Ninkovich
DE Derek Rivers
DT Vincent Valentine
DE Deatrich Wise Jr.
This might as well be set in stone unless the Patriots determine they need Geneo Grissom as a special teamer.
LINEBACKERS (6)
David Harris
Dont’a Hightower
Brandon King
Shea McClellin
Elandon Roberts
Kyle Van Noy
Harris bumps Harvey Langi off the roster for now. Langi likely makes the roster with an injury to any of the 53 players listed on this projection.
DEFENSIVE BACKS (10)
CB Malcolm Butler
S Patrick Chung
S Nate Ebner
CB Stephon Gilmore
S Duron Harmon
CB Cyrus Jones
CB Jonathan Jones
S Devin McCourty
S Jordan Richards
CB Eric Rowe
Cyrus Jones makes the roster for now, but Justin Coleman, D.J. Killings, William Likely, Kenny Moore and Dwayne Thomas all could knock him off the roster with solid training camps if the second-year pro continues to struggle.
SPECIAL TEAMS (3)
P Ryan Allen
LS Joe Cardona
K Stephen Gostkowski
The Patriots didn’t sign specialists to compete for these three roles.
Last man in: CB Cyrus Jones
Last man out: LB Harvey Langi
Thumbnail photo via Ed Mulholland/USA TODAY Sports Images
