The New England Patriots were quite busy over the weekend, making a combined 42 transactions to go from 91 to 53 players on their active roster. Most of those moves were expected to happen, but head coach Mike Vrabel’s team managed to pull off a few minor surprises. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the moves that qualify as upsets through the lens of our established winners and losers format. It would be easy to label the 53 men on the active roster as winners and the rest as losers, but every situation is different and reality is much more nuanced than simply asking who is in or out. QB Behren Morton: With Drake Maye a franchise-caliber player and Tommy DeVito a capable and experienced backup, the top of the Patriots’ quarterback depth chart was set in stone all summer. The question was whether Morton had done enough to justify remaining one of the 53 players on the roster. Turns out yes. Despite some shortcomings elsewhere on the team, he made it through cutback day as a QB3 and projected emergency game-day option. OT Dametrious Crownover: Shortly before Sunday’s 6 p.m. ET cutoff deadline, the Patriots made a trade with the Vikings to bring in versatile offensive lineman Walter Rouse, a player capable of lining up at both tackle and guard. And yet, despite his presence, the team decided to keep four pure tackles in the initial 53. Three of them (Will Campbell, Morgan Moses, Caleb Lomu) were set in stone to start, but Crownover’s position looked less secure with Rouse in the mix. However, he seemingly had nothing to worry about and did enough over the summer to secure a roster spot in place of nominal OT4 Marcus Bryant. ED Quintayvious Hutchins: Defensive upside had been in the spotlight since the offseason, and remains a question at this point as well. However, up until the cutoff deadline, the Patriots opted to go with four players, including Hutchins. His inclusion over teammates Bradyn Swinson and Jesse Luketa might have been surprising, but the seventh-round pick has developed too well over the summer to make the pair expendable. LB Namdi Obiazor: Obiazor was only used occasionally with the first-team defense in training camp, but quickly carved out a central role as a five-man presence on special teams. This ultimately played a key role in making the 53-man squad and the Patriots opening the year with five off-ball linebackers on the roster, perhaps a surprising number considering the group as a whole has had its ups and downs in recent weeks. CB Channing Canada: Three undrafted rookie free agents made New England’s initial 53-man roster, the most since 2017. Tight end Tanner Arkin and linebacker Khalil Jacobs had been in that conversation since the beginning of training camp, but Channing Canada could have been a surprise. The junior had some positive moments, but overall seemed to be less actively involved with high-level defense than other cornerbacks. However, his relative stability compared to some of his competitors could have made the difference, as could his ability to line up on special teams, primarily as a gunner. The Preseason Injury Cluster: The aforementioned Khalil Jacobs was one of multiple players heading into cutoff weekend facing injury questions. Not everyone made the 53-man squad, but a handful of players did. In addition to Jacobs, the Patriots also kept interior offensive lineman Ben Brown and punter Bryce Baringer on their active roster to open the year, a positive development from a depth perspective. DT Eric Gregory: Beyond the top trio of Milton Williams, Christian Barmore and Cory Durden, the Patriots’ interior defensive line was unsettled at the end of the preseason. This meant that a player like Gregory might have had a realistic chance of making it given that he had some solid moments in camp and at 319 pounds was the heaviest player of the group and therefore possibly the best suited to fill the vacant nose tackle spot. Unfortunately, the team decided to go in a different direction and go with Joshua Farmer as the best backup run defenseman. CB Kindle Vildor: Signed as an unrestricted free agent in March, Vildor appeared to be in a competitive position to earn a role as the fourth or fifth cornerback since the offseason. And while he took a hiatus early in training camp, he was apparently able to recover and hit the road for the roster in mid-August. However, he never earned a spot and was eventually undone by a poor performance in the preseason finale, so much so that the team opted to carry rookies Karon Prunty and Channing Canada on the 53-man roster above him.
