Patriots Notes: Obi Melifonwu released to make room for Antonio Brown, Lance Kendricks waived

The Patriots needed to make a roster move in order to make room for Antonio Brown's signing and, since the team came out of the game relatively healthy, elected to release safety Obi Melifonwu, according to league sources.

The team also released tight end Lance Kendricks, who was set to come off the reserve/suspended list.

BSJ Analysis

It's a mild surprise the release didn't come with more cap relief, as Melifonwu only saves about $600,000 against the cap.

Miguel Benzan will have more later on the reported contract for Brown — which does include at least one dummy year to help the cap hit — and what else might need to be done to help the situation on that front.

Melifonwu's release is not a surprise. I didn't have him on my final 53, and he wasn't active for the opener. By the end of camp, Duron Harmon had earned that spot and the only possible swap for Melifonwu would have happened for special teams and cap purposes.

Same with Kendricks. I was surprised the Patriots didn't outright release him at the cutdown. Perhaps the Patriots kept him during the suspension with the hope someone might trade for him. The Patriots also probably wanted to make sure they came out of the opener healthy with Ryan Izzo and Matt LaCosse before parting with Kendricks.

As for the Patriots' receiver depth chart ... boy, it's deep with seven on the active roster:

Julian Edelman
Josh Gordon
Antonio Brown
Phillip Dorsett
Demaryius Thomas
Jakobi Meyers
Gunner Olszewski

IR: N'Keal Harry
PUP: Cam Meredith

Also: Matthew Slater

I have a really hard time seeing the Patriots keeping seven receivers. They will likely bide their time to assess how ready Brown is to factor in the Week 2 gameplan. A roster move or two prior to the Miami game is not out of the question. Olszewski and Thomas would figure to be the odd-men out in that scenario.

It's also good news the Patriots didn't elect to move Marcus Cannon to injured reserve, which could have happened if his left shoulder injury was deemed serious. Obviously the Patriots, at least for now, feel good about Cannon returning to the lineup in short order.

Belichick has an issue with Ted Karras' shotgun snaps: The center said after the game that he checked with Tom Brady about the velocity of his shotgun snaps, and the quarterback didn't voice any issue. Sounds like Bill Belichick had an issue.

"I'd say that's one of the many things that we can do better," Belichick said Monday.

"The timing when the quarterback is in the shotgun is different than when he's under center because he has the ball in his hands through the entire drop where it's different when he's 5 yards behind the center and has to catch the ball and then go through his footwork and so forth. If there's a variance in the snap, either speed or accuracy, then runs over into the footwork and timing of the play then that's just another added degree of difficulty."