After 22 training camp practices and three scintillating preseason games (can you detect the sarcasm there?), we are now about to flip the calendar to September and to football games that truly matter.
It’s been a solid summer of work for the Patriots. The off-field distraction has quieted, and the work on the field, while not perfect, has been productive. This should be a good football team. How good remains to be seen, but if they’re not competing for a playoff berth (at the very least), then something (or multiple things) went wrong.
I was chastised by a friend for including DT DaQuan Jones and LB Shaq Thompson on the previous 53. “Pick from the players that are here,” he kvetched. Fine. FINE. But let the record show I think they should sign both in the next week, and were they to do that, Eric Gregory and Namdi Obiazor would be the odd men out. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, bubby.
Anyway, enough about my personal life and annoying friends. Here’s my last crack at the 53 before Sunday’s cutdown day.
QB (3): Drake Maye, Tommy DeVito, Behren Morton
No changes here. I still think Morton wouldn’t get claimed, but like him enough not to even risk it. His performance in the first half in Cleveland was shaky, and that’s being kind. He threw an interception that got waved off by a bogus DPI, blew a checkdown with poor mechanics, and should have been intercepted in the end zone, which would have taken points off the board. The second half was also ugly.
Meanwhile, Maye had an excellent camp and is a better player today than the one who had an incredible 2025-26 regular season.
RB (3): Rhamondre Stevenson, TreVeyon Henderson, Reggie Gilliam
No changes here. I don’t think any of the Hassan Haskins, Lan Larison, Jam Miller, or JaMychal Hasty quarter gets claimed, and it's very possible they claim a running back.
After taking Foxborough by storm last summer, Henderson was awfully quiet this time around.
WR (6): A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs, Pop Douglas, Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams, Efton Chism
No changes. I don’t believe all six will always be active on game day, with Chism likely the odd man out. For those who lament the Kayshon Boutte trade, I believe he would have had a hard time getting 10 snaps in games (assuming everyone is healthy). I also think he could have been inactive due to his lack of special-teams participation. That wouldn’t have gone over well. Anyway, this is a good group, although we can settle down with the embarrassment of riches thing that’s been making the rounds.
TE (3): Hunter Henry, Eli Raridon, Tanner Arkin
I put Arkin back on and cut Jack Westover, the thinking being that Arkin’s sheer physicality and size are something they don’t have on the roster at TE.
T (5): Will Campbell, Morgan Moses, Caleb Lomu, Marcus Bryant, Demetrious Crownover
Vrabel praised Crownover after the Eagles game. As for Bryant, there’s been no update on the severity of that injury he suffered Saturday against Philly, but that could upset the apple cart if it’s significant.
For the record, Campbell had a strong camp.
G (4): Mike Onwenu, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Jared Wilson, Greg Van Roten
I’m starting Brown on IR. Van Roten immediately stepped in and got reps at all three interior line positions with the first group.
Edge (4):