The Patriots don't need to announce their initial 53-man roster until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday. And yet, New England released 11 players over the weekend, and another Monday afternoon.
But why would the Patriots make these moves before they need to? Why not wait until the last minute either to angle for trades or simply to make the most well-informed decision possible?
Bill Belichick on Monday was asked to share insight into that decision-making process, and the Patriots head coach delivered a genuinely great answer. First, he talked about giving players an opportunity to look for new work before waivers and the free agent market get overrun.
"We have to make 37 transactions, and in some cases when the decision is clear cut, I think it just helps the player get a little bit of a head start on his future," Belichick said. "If we don’t have a spot for him here -- because of the relationship that we have with those guys, they’ve worked hard; they’ve done what we’ve asked them to do; they’ve done their best -- maybe there is a spot for them somewhere else. We're giving them the opportunity to get out there a little bit ahead of the pack and at least now they can start putting some feelers out and their agent can start to work on it.
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"I know that the transaction doesn’t become official until later in the week. But when a player has been released, he has the opportunity to start to look to see if there is going to be a practice squad opportunity or something else somewhere else in the league. For the guys that have come in and done all that we’ve asked them to do and worked hard, I hope they get another opportunity somewhere. I hope things work out for them somewhere else."
Belichick also explained how each player deserves to know why they're released. And if he waits until the last minute, those players might feel as if they were rushed out the door.
"I'm sure things will get crunched at the end," Belichick said. "And I don’t want to not give those players at least the time and the courtesy of an explanation and the decision -- a closure to it, if you will. I think they deserve that based on what they've given me. When you try to do 37 guys in an hour, it can just feel pretty dismissive of what the player’s effort and commitment has been. I want to recognize that because some of these guys have worked as hard as they could for the last however many months, in some cases years, and done all they could.
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"Unfortunately, we all know that 90 has got to go to 53. It's 37 players who can’t be on the 53-man roster, and we all knew that when we signed up for it. I’ve been on waivers myself a few times. So, I know what that's like to be told, 'You don't have a place here', and some of us end up somewhere else. It's part of the process. Whether it's the right or wrong thing to do, I don’t know, but I try to do the best that I can. I try to be respectful for the players and what they’re going through and what their future is if it's not here. ... We try to handle it as professionally as we can."
You can click here to track Patriots roster cuts as we learn of them ahead of Tuesday's deadline.
Featured image via Kassidy Hill/USA TODAY Sports Images
