FOXBORO, Mass. — The Patriots on Wednesday formally revealed their practice squad, which will offer more work for 15 players who showed promise during training camp but didn’t crack New England’s 53-man roster.
Some of those players might use the extra coaching and experience to develop into useful pieces down the road. Perhaps linebacker Cameron McGrone, hyped up during the offseason by Patriots coaches and executives before getting cut Tuesday, simply needs extra seasoning on the practice squad before emerging as a dynamic linebacker in New England’s defense.
However, the unfortunate reality is that the vast majority of players on the practice squad eventually will fade into obscurity. The most value they’ll ever offer the Patriots is as emergency depth and as extra bodies on the practice field.
But don’t take our word for it. Just read what Bill Belichick said during Monday morning’s news conference at Gillette Stadium.
“The practice squad is the practice squad,” Belichick said. “It’s a way to keep some additional players around to help you practice and possibly develop. I would say you’re talking about the, well it’s 60th to the 70th players, I don’t know how many of those players have a dramatic impact on any team in the league year in and year out. Do they provide some depth? Yes. Do they develop into big players? I’m not sure how many would fall into that category. My guess is not very many. But there are probably a couple here or there. So I think a lot of those, the end of it isn’t overly significant.”
Belichick added: “But it’s part of your roster, and management, and practicing and fundamentally working through your team. But locker room’s more crowded, training room’s more crowded, more players on the practice field, more players in the meeting room, more people to manage with the hope that they’ll be able to give you some depth. It is what it is.”
If anything, New England’s practice squad paints an even grimmer picture of Belichick’s questionable 53-man roster.
The Patriots only had one player (tight end Devin Asiasi) claimed off waivers after being released before roster cutdowns. Typically, the amount of waived players claimed by other teams is a good indicator of overall talent on a roster. Having so much desirable talent that you can’t fit it all on a roster is a good problem to have.
By contrast, the New York Jets saw seven of their players claimed Wednesday. That’s… a lot.
All that said, practice squad players occasionally turn into stars — Arian Foster and James Harrison come to mind. Do the Patriots currently have any such players on their practice squad? Maybe, but we probably won’t find out for quite a while.
If we had to bet on one: undrafted defensive lineman LaBryan Ray, who was a surprising casualty of cutdown day.
