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Here is my attempt at the 53 man roster, which I'm sure Bill will not have that close to in the end.

1.Tom Brady
2. Ryan Mallett
3. Brian Hoyer
4. Shane Vereen
5. Steven Ridley
6. Danny Woodhead
7. Jeff Demps
8. Spencer Larsens
9. Wes Welker
10. Brandon Lloyd
11. Jabbar Gaffney
12. Deion Branch
13. Julian Edelman
14. Matthew Slater
15. Rob Gronkowski
16. Aaron Hernandez
17. Daniel Fells
18. Alex Silvestro
19. Nate Solder
20. Sebastian Vollmer
21. Marcus Cannon
22. Logan Mankins
23. Brian Waters
24. Dan Connelly
25. Donald Thomas
26. Nick McDonald
27. Ryan Wendell
28. Vince Wilfork
29. Kyle Love
30. Brandon Deaderick
31. Rob Ninkovich
32. Gerard Warren
33. Ron Brace
34. Chandler Jones
35. Jermanie Cunningham
36. Jerod Mayo
37. Dont'a Hightower
38. Brandon Spikes
39. Bobby Carpenter
40. Niko Koutouvides
41. Ras-I Dowling
42. Kyle Arrington
43. Sterling Moore
44. Devin McCourty
45. Marquice Cole
46. Patrick Chung
47. Steve Gregory
48. Nate Ebner
49. James Ihedigbo
50. Tavon Wilson
51. Stephen Gostkowski
52. Zoltan Mesko
53. Danny Aiken

I think my major surprise to make the team is Alex Silvestro, I just feel he adds more than Vinshante Shianco can. Silvestro can be depth at TE, but also help you on the D-Line as well as special teams.

Bobby Carpenter is hanging on by a thread and it wouldn't shock me if he didn't make the squad and someone like Tracey White or Jeff Tarpinian.

I see Gerard Warren and Trevor Scott being really close, but both adding something different to the squad. Just feel with Cunningham coming on Scott can be let go.

Marquis Cole and Will Allen could go either way as well. Allen has had some nice success in nickel packages, but Cole adds more to special teams.

The Jeff Demps signing most likely costed two guys their spots. Donte Stallworth might have been kept as a return guy and Brandon Bolden as depth at running back.

If Brian Waters does not return, although I think he does. I'd expect to see Dan Koppen make the squad.

O-Line-D-Line:

I hope Koppen and Waters both make it. Back to Waters, I'm pretty sure he'll be there, but I was upset to hear that Andre Carter on the other hand worked out for a different team. I always thought he was in the same boat was Waters. A guy resting and would be back at the end of training camp.

WR:
Branch playing in the fourth quarter was not that good a sign, but maybe he was just getting reps. I assume if Brady says he wants branch, branch will make the squad.

Safety:
I kinda was hoping to see Alfonso Dennard make the team. He hasn't done much though. Plus it's hard to make a case for keeping 6 safeties.

Gaffney released was a big surprise. Good for Branch fans though.

I'm really surprised both didn't make the team. Could be making room for a Brandon Bolden or extra linebacker.

Well branch being cut is a big surprise. Same with Brian Hoyer. Guess they're high on mallett.

I'll miss idehebigo too.

I think branch or gaffney will be back soon... We are really thin at WR even though u can consider AH as a WR

gaffney is back as soon as he is healthy. the dolphins want him now-but he wants to be a patriot when he is healthy.

pretty surprised that:
rivera beat out niko and tarpinian and
that fortson made the roster. I didn't see anything out of him (either attending a couple of practices) or wathcing the preaseason games that warranted a spot. That said, 2 years ago, everyone thought he would be a 1st round pick instead of udfa. Maybe Belicheck still sees some of that talent somewhere.



I really hope Francis is able to provide some interior pass rush on 3rd downs until Pryor comes of the PUP (the role fanene was supposed to fill).

I also hope they give Barrett an injury settlement so he is eligible to be back later in the season. I don't trust Chung to stay healthy and with Ebner's style (although I really like him), I wouldn't be surprised if he gets hurt as well.

curious why you thought koppen should make it. (1) no positional versatility and (2) both wendell and connolly play the center position better than he does now. I think McDonald actually looked just as good as Koppen (if not better) than him as well during the preseason. we can't afford to give pressure up the middle against Brady this year

Celtics_Champs wrote:O-Line-D-Line:

I hope Koppen and Waters both make it. Back to Waters, I'm pretty sure he'll be there, but I was upset to hear that Andre Carter on the other hand worked out for a different team. I always thought he was in the same boat was Waters. A guy resting and would be back at the end of training camp.

WR:
Branch playing in the fourth quarter was not that good a sign, but maybe he was just getting reps. I assume if Brady says he wants branch, branch will make the squad.

Safety:
I kinda was hoping to see Alfonso Dennard make the team. He hasn't done much though. Plus it's hard to make a case for keeping 6 safeties.

alwayslovetheceltics wrote:curious why you thought koppen should make it. (1) no positional versatility and (2) both wendell and connolly play the center position better than he does now. I think McDonald actually looked just as good as Koppen (if not better) than him as well during the preseason. we can't afford to give pressure up the middle against Brady this year

Celtics_Champs wrote:O-Line-D-Line:

I hope Koppen and Waters both make it. Back to Waters, I'm pretty sure he'll be there, but I was upset to hear that Andre Carter on the other hand worked out for a different team. I always thought he was in the same boat was Waters. A guy resting and would be back at the end of training camp.

WR:
Branch playing in the fourth quarter was not that good a sign, but maybe he was just getting reps. I assume if Brady says he wants branch, branch will make the squad.

Safety:
I kinda was hoping to see Alfonso Dennard make the team. He hasn't done much though. Plus it's hard to make a case for keeping 6 safeties.

The line is shaky, would be more than happy to see connolly shift to guard and start Koppen than what we've been seeing. I didn't see much pre-season games or any practice this year though so you can't take my opinion on Ryan Wendell vs Dan Koppen with even minimal regard.

Waters isn't coming back. Too bad, but I appreciate the year he gave us last season.

A guy I would like to see the Pats sign is Eric Page, who was cut from the Broncos after a knee injury early on in training camp.

I doubt he plays this season, but the dude was a stud @ Toledo last year and doesn't turn 21 til late September.