The Bubble

There's really not much to watch for in the last preseason game on Thursday. Anyone who's important will probably play very little if at all. There are some interesting position battles that have yet to work themselves out. The following players will be on the bubble and fighting for a roster spot against the Giants.



QB's

Obviously Brady and Cassell are on the roster. If Guttierez has a decent night, and I think he's looked pretty good so far, the Pats may be unwilling to demote him to the practice squad. He's played well enough to get attention from elsewhere. That would mean Vinnie gets 'cut' and hangs around the team until a position becomes available.



(THE PRACTICE SQUAD. A player has to be waived by the team and if no one claims him in 24 hours he can be re-signed to your practice squad. However, any team can claim any practice squad player from any other team as long as he spends 5 weeks on the new team's active gameday roster.)



WR's

With Brown and Jackson officially placed on the P.U.P. today, there is theoretically only one WR spot open. Gaffney, Stallworth, Moss and Welker make the cut. That leaves last year's leading receiver, Reche Caldwell on the bubble with Kelley Washington. The argument for Washington is that he's big and he plays well on special teams, however he's not as familiar with the Offense as Caldwell. The argument for Caldwell is that he's got the rapport with Brady and knows the O, however he doesn't play special teams and he's an expensive 5th receiver at 1.5 mill. If they keep Caldwell and Washington it would be at the expense of a DB, possibly Mel Mitchell.


TE's

The best tight end on this team is David Thomas, but unfortunately he will be starting the year on the P.U.P. recovering from a broken foot. So Watson makes the team and Brady will most likely make the team now that he's practicing again. Marcellus Rivers looked better than Watson on Friday night and he's a good blocker, but he'll be on the bubble with second year man Garrett Mills. Mills has looked lost at times this year and he's not a great blocker, so look for Mills to be cut.


DB's

There may be a surprise at this position depending on how many DB's they keep and where they play, if they consider Merriweather a safety now that Asante is back. At Safety they have Rodney, Wilson, Sanders, Willie Andrews and Mel Mitchell. At CB they have Asante, Hobbs, Gay, James and Merriweather. The bubble players would be Andrews, Mitchell and possibly James. Andrews has played both corner and safety, returned punts and been effective on special teams, I think he sticks. Because Mitchel is considered another Izzo on special teams he will probably stick too. If the Pats are happy with Asante's condition and Merriweather's performance to date, then Tory James will be the man to go.

On a bit of a side note, I'm pretty upset with the Pats for giving in to Asante. The Pats have given up their right to franchise him again next season as long as he plays 75% of the time and the Pats acheive a certain # of wins. Perhaps the thinking is that he won't be worth the 9+ million they'll have to pay him if they franchise him next season. My concern is that he'll take too many risks in trying to increase his interception #'s for a big payday and give up big plays instead. Thanks for allowing me to vent, now back to the roster bubbles.

The rest of the roster seems pretty much set, with a couple of O Lineman (rookies Oldenberg and Elgin) going to the practice squad. So watch to see how the Bubble players perform, there won't be much else to see. Don't be surprised to see the Pats try to trade one or two of these bubble guys for a draft pick rather than just cutting them.


I'm nearly finished with my research to make some predictions, so watch for the next post when I'll tell you what the Pats record will be and who they'll beat in the superbowl.