Before entering the practice fields for their sixth session of this year’s training camp, the New England Patriots decided to part ways with a member of their linebacker group. Otis Reese, who had originally joined the team via its practice squad last November, was released.
With no follow-up move happening yet, let’s analyze what we know about this particular transactions and what it means for the Patriots.
Not a major move
When we wrote his Patriots scouting report, this is what we had to say about Reese under the
“How safe is his roster spot?” section:
A former practice squad player on a minimum deal who hasn’t played in any NFL game in almost 19 months? That is textbook roster bubble. Reese will get a chance to compete for a backup spot behind starting linebackers Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss, but he needs to step up his game in order to make it onto the 53-man team. The Patriots won’t hesitate cutting him if he does not.
As this one paragraph already outlined earlier this month, his release even before the start of preseason should not come as a surprise. Reese was a depth and special teams player only, who was facing long odds to begin with. Apparently, the team agreed and decided to make a move sooner rather than later.
Open roster spot
The biggest consequence of the Patriots releasing Reese is that it opens a spot on the team’s roster. Including roster-exempt offensive tackle Lorenz Metz, 90 of the 91 available spots are currently filled.
While the team will have to trim down to 53 within the next month, Reese’s former spot remaining unoccupied is unlikely to happen. The question is how New England wants to fill it. On Friday, two players — safeties Eric Butler and Tysheem Johnson — were in town for free agency workouts. Neither was signed, but this is one possible avenue the team could explore.
Decreased linebacker depth
The Patriots entered Friday with nine linebackers on the roster. They exit it with the following eight in the fold:
Linebacker (8): Robert Spillane (14), Christian Elliss (53), K.J. Britt (35), Chad Muma (49), Amari Gainer (99), Namdi Obiazor (48), Khalil Jacobs (59), Riley Wilson (51)
As mentioned in the excerpt above, Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss are the starters at the linebacker position. Based on the first six practices of camp, K.J. Britt and Chad Muma are the next men up, even though undrafted rookie Khalil Jacobs has had some solid moments as of late.
No cap impact
Reese was among a group of veterans playing on a non-guaranteed $1.075 million base salary. This is why his release has no impact on the Patriots’ salary cap: removing him from the books means that another player on the same salary and cap hit is taking his place on the Top 51 list.
According to Miguel Benzan, New England finds itself $33.7 million under the cap at the moment. This places them in the top eight in the NFL at the moment.
