And so it begins. The slow and steady march to the regular season - voluntary workouts, OTAs, mandatory mini-camp, even the beginning of training camp - is long gone and hard to find. In its place, the full-on sprint to the regular season opener in Seattle, which is 9 days away.
Roster cuts happened by the dozens over the weekend, and there will almost certainly be a whole lot more between now and the kickoff. Between practice squad signings, waiver claims, and who knows, maybe a trade (the Patriots made two around cuts, acquiring RB Corey Kiner and T Walter Rouse), the 53 that initially survived the roster purge may not be the 53 Mike Vrabel takes into the opener.
Is the roster in a better place than it was a year ago? Good question. What positions are better? What’s treading water? And where have they taken a step back? I’m glad you asked…
MOVING ON UP
Quarterback: Undoubtedly upgraded because the guy who nearly won the NFL MVP, Drake Maye, has been a better player this summer. His command of the offense is undeniable, and the focus on “weaponizing his brain” showed up during camp. How ready is Maye for the way defenses will respond to a year’s worth of tape, and a subpar postseason? There’s no better place to find out than in Seattle against the Seahawks. As for the backup, Tommy DeVito could allow you to survive a game or two, just as Joshua Dobbs could have a year ago. Anything beyond that, and well, this season won’t be what you thought it could be.
Offensive line: Yes, the depth of the line has been hit here in August, with Marcus Bryant starting the campaign on IR and Ben Brown missing multiple weeks. But Will Campbell appears poised to make a year-two jump; Alijah Vera-Tucker is an upgrade at guard (health will be critical); and Mike Onwenu had his best camp in recent memory.
The notion that 35-year-old Morgan Moses can play every game is probably pie-in-the-sky, but it may allow first-rounder Caleb Lomu to show whether he’s got the right stuff to handle right tackle (I swear, I didn’t intend to do that). After two years of publicly campaigning for the team to sign vet Greg Van Roten, they did, and he jumped right into the mix. Jared Wilson didn’t have a dominating camp at center, but he’s bigger than Garrett Bradbury and athletic enough for me to think that should be an upgrade.
Wide receiver: The 2025 unit was pluckier than a rooster in a hen house. But the reality was that they were elevated by a quarterback on a season-long heater. In swapping out Stefon Diggs and Kayshon Boutte for A.J. Brown and Romeo Doubs, the Pats feel like they’re more dangerous and more explosive, especially as they try to unlock more touches for Pop Douglas and replace a handful of Boutte’s snaps with burner Kyle Williams. The ‘25 group was the best the Pats have had at WR in about 10 years, but they were still middle-of-the-road league-wide. This ‘26 class is better.
Safety: When you can replace Jaylinn Hawkins with Kevin Byard, even at his age, you do it. Craig Woodson is a better version of his rookie self, and Dell Pettus had another nice summer. Throw in Jaylen Reed (’The Jaylen Reed trade’), and I feel better about their ability to impact the game and turn over the opposition.
Running back: Rhamondre Stevenson had as good a summer as I can remember from him. That doesn’t offset TreVeyon Henderson’s oddly non-impactful performance. Still, I’m leaning on his 900+ yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie and believing he’s in line for a productive fall even if he remains the same kind of runner. My confidence in that is tied to the addition of FB Reggie Gilliam, a key piece of the Bills' ground game. We haven’t seen too many heavy fullbacks in camp, but Gilliam is a good player until proven otherwise.
CALM ABOVE THE WATER, BUT PADDLING LIKE A FOOL UNDERNEATH