
As the calendar turned from Monday to Tuesday, the New England Patriots had 76 players on their active roster. By 4 p.m. ET, that number will have been reduced to no more than 53.
Between releases, trades and other transactions, cutdown day in the NFL is always an eventful one. This year’s will be no different in New England and elsewhere across the league.
What will be different at least from a Patriots perspective is who is calling the shots. Mike Vrabel, who was hired in January, is in charge now;
the 53-man roster will reflect its head coach’s personality and the identity he is looking for in his team.
“I want our fans to see a team that plays together,” Vrabel explained earlier this week. “Playing team defense that finishes; guys that are finishing around the football; we got O-linemen that are down the field; we have receivers that are willing to protect the guy with the ball. A team that takes care of the football, that values the football. Somebody that is able to turn the football over and affect the quarterback, and then a team that makes great decisions. I think that those are important when you’re out on the field.”
With that said, here are six thoughts on Vrabel’s team heading into cutdown day (plus a quick reminder to please follow our Patriots roster cuts tracker).
1. The Patriots tried their best this offseason to infuse some talent into a roster in desperate need of it. On paper, the results were impressive: they added some high-profile players in both free agency and the draft, addressing virtually every major hole on the team heading into 2025. However, those holes tend to be looked at individually rather than holistically. Zooming out a bit shows that there are still several areas of concern — that either went unaddressed or simply did not perform up to expectation this summer — creating one big issue.
While New England took an admittedly cost-heavy step forward at the starter level, the second and third layers of the roster are a potential problem. That is not a one-off either: from tight end, to the entire offensive line, to the defensive edge, to linebacker and cornerback, the depth looks better than last year but there still seems to be quite a bit of room for improvement.
The starter level is not immune to this either, by the way. While there have been improvements, questions remain heading toward the season. No position is a better example than wide receiver: New England spent notable assets to rebuild the group, but at the moment the top four options are a 31-year-old Stefon Diggs who had some quiet stretches in training camp, a receiver who crossed 400 yards only once in eight seasons, Mack Hollins, and a pair of third-year men — DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte — who have yet to show that they can be reliable every-down starters.
As with other spots on the team, there is definitive potential at receiver. However, there are some question marks as well; a theme for the Patriots’ roster on the eve of cutdown day.
2. The blame for this does not necessarily fall on the front office or the coaching staff; there is a reason the Patriots went 4-13 in back-to-back seasons before Mike Vrabel was hired as head coach earlier this year. What is that reason? Years of questionable additions especially in the NFL Draft have started to catch up to the Patriots.
New England’s draft history in the late Bill Belichick era has been well-documented, but it still reverberates to this day: some serious misses have left the cupboard bare. And while the organization has done its best to add talent by almost any means necessary (there have been no player acquisitions via trade since Belichick’s departure in January 2024), getting back on track is a multi-year process.
Of course, there are some promising pieces in place (and, to his credit, some of them were brought in by Belichick). The overall optimism surrounding the team, however, seems to only be somewhat justified: yes, improvement is possible if not likely; a playoff push might still not be a realistic goal just yet.
3. Obviously, though, the current personnel department headed by executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf is not without its black marks either. Yes, we need to talk about the 2024 draft class.
Drake Maye at pick No. 3 was close to a no-brainer. The seven selections that came after him, on the other hand, are not looking particularly good at the moment. In fact, there is a realistic chance that not one of them finds himself on the 53-man roster come Wednesday morning.
The latest to be removed from the team was fourth-round guard Layden Robinson, who was waived on Sunday with an injury designation. Even without that categorization, however, he was considered a long shot to make the roster after spending virtually all of spring and summer buried on the offensive line depth chart. He will soon be joined on IR by second-round wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, who is headed for injured reserve after suffering another shoulder injury.
Third-round pick Caedan Wallace, meanwhile, is also on the roster bubble after transitioning from tackle to guard this offseason. The same is true for fourth-rounder Javon Baker, who did look good on special teams this summer but is unreliable at his primary position of wide receiver. The three remaining selections, meanwhile, are all already off the roster: sixth-round cornerback Marcellas Dial Jr. is already on season-ending injured reserve; fellow sixth-rounder Joe Milton is now providing quarterback depth and uneven accuracy to the Dallas Cowboys; seventh-round tight end Jaheim Bell was cut on Friday.
It goes without saying that the circumstances did not help the seven non-Maye players from the 2024 draft class, whether it was the change in coaching staff or the injuries suffered by Polk, Robinson and Dial Jr. However, nobody from that group outside of the Patriots’ first-round QB were locked into a roster spot to begin with. This, in turn, is an unfortunate reflection of the quality of the group as a whole.
4. Based on this year’s results, last year’s draft haul looks quite underwhelming. The one brought aboard in 2025, meanwhile, looks a lot more promising overall in those early stages. First- and third-rounders Will Campbell and Jared Wilson project as the starting left tackle and guard, respectively; second-round pick TreVeyon Henderson looks like a potential key piece at running back and in the return game; Craig Woodson turned from fourth-round pick to top-three safety this summer; seventh-rounder Julian Ashby will be the Patriots’ long snapper this fall.
In addition, WR Kyle Williams, DT Joshua Farmer, ED Brady Swinson and OT Marcus Bryant all look like valuable depth pieces, while Andy Borregales is in a competition with Parker Romo for the kicker job. Only “Mr. Irrelevant” himself, cornerback Kobee Minor, is currently not projected to make the roster.
Furthermore, the team also has some notable undrafted rookies under contract. Even though roster hopefuls Lan Larison and Brock Lampe are out for the year, Efton Chism III and Elijah Ponder are both in a good spot to end up on the 53-man team.
The fact that the Patriots might have as many as 13 rookies on their first roster is a testament to their individual performances, the scouting and coaching staff working well together, but also the lack of established talent on the team.
5. That lack of established talent also means that the Patriots’ initial 53-man roster might not remain intact even 24 hours. By Wednesday noon, after all, the first waiver claim window of the year will come to a close, and New England might be quite active — that is the nature of having fourth overall priority coming off an underwhelming four-win season.
Eliot Wolf and company looking at the wire to bolster the overall depth of the roster would be nothing new. Last year, in Wolf’s first as head of the personnel department, New England picked up four players off the wire: the additions of offensive linemen Demontrey Jacobs and Zach Thomas, defensive tackle Eric Johnson and linebacker Curtis Jacobs spelled temporary doom for the likes of wide receiver Jalen Reagor, offensive lineman Michael Jordan, defensive tackle Trysten Hill and cornerback Isaiah Bolden.
After all, the quartet eventually returned via the practice squad. Still, their experience last year shows that even those on the first roster of the season cannot feel entirely secure.
6. This might come off as an “old man yelling at cloud” statement, but the human element of cutdown day should not be ignored. Fact is, after all, that not every NFL player is on seven figures or set for life just because they signed a deal with one of the 32 teams. For a significant portion of players cut before Tuesday’s deadline, their chosen career path will be over with little to show for from a financial perspective.
Take the Patriots’ undrafted rookie class. They did receive per diem payments totaling $2,000 per training camp and $315 per day in the offseason, and for some that is a major source of income relative to what they have earned contractually.
Let’s use offensive lineman Mehki Butler as an example. The Arkansas State product joined the team as a UDFA in March, signing a three-year, $2.97 million deal. That number seems impressive, but it a) consists entirely of salary payments, and b) does not include any guarantees such as a signing bonus. This means that if Butler gets cut, he will have earned exactly $0 of those $2.97 million.
Let’s spin that scenario even further. If he subsequently fails to land with the Patriots practice squad or another team in some capacity and his career comes to an end, his time in the NFL will have netted him no more than $30,000. That is a lot of money for a combined 14 weeks of work, sure, but nothing that will keep somebody afloat for any significant time let alone for life.
Luckily for Butler, that outcome is not set in stone; he did have some positive moments in camp and is a potential practice squad candidate. Once there, he would earn no less than $17,500 per week during the season.
Not every player will be that lucky, though.
Quick reminder: Cutdown day will be quite hectic, so please make sure to bookmark and regularly revisit our Patriots roster cuts tracker to stay atop all the latest news and rumors. Thank you.