Bill Belichick Explains Patriots’ Decision To Cut Cassius Marsh For Eric Lee

FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots were willing to admit an offseason mistake by cutting Cassius Marsh on Tuesday after giving up fifth- and seventh-round picks for him in September.

The Patriots signed defensive end Eric Lee off the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad to replace Marsh. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked about the moves Wednesday morning.

“It’s just the feeling of, we felt like it was the best move to make for the football team,” Belichick said, unsurprisingly.

But why Lee, who’s now been in the NFL for two seasons and has yet to find his way into a regular season game?

“We worked against him at Houston in preseason,” Belichick said. “He’s kind of a — played outside linebacker for Houston, defensive end in their sub package, so there’s some relevance there for us, similar to the position that was vacated. So, we’ll see how it goes.”

Lee went undrafted out of South Florida in 2016 and spent his entire rookie season on the Houston Texans’ practice squad. He practiced and played against the Patriots this summer as a member of the Texans. He recorded two tackles in the Texans’ Week 2 preseason game against New England. Lee had two sacks in the Texans’ third preseason game but was waived Sept. 2.

The Bills signed Lee to their practice squad Sept. 5. He was promoted to their active roster Sept. 29, waived Oct. 3 and re-signed to Buffalo’s practice squad before being snagged by the Patriots on Tuesday.

Belichick said he hadn’t met with Lee prior to the 2016 draft and downplayed watching Lee practice.

“There’s a lot of guys on our team we haven’t seen practice, so I wouldn’t say that was a big deciding factor,” Belichick said. “I mean, we did see him.”