8/30 Thoughts, Game Wrap-up, etc.

-Jake Bequette is gone. I may be the only one that thinks this but he is CLEARLY the worst of the 6 DE's that are fighting for 5 spots. Scott, Cunningham and Francis all had good games last night and look like NFL caliber players, and I have yet to see that out of Bequette. I think you gotta cut him. Just have to. It can send a powerful message to the team that your status means nothing and only the best players will make the team. And who knows, maybe no one claims him and he reverts back to the practice squad.

-Jeff Demps really hurt himself with that injury. I think he was solidly on there as the 5th running back, but how does his injury affect his status? I think he may just barely squeak on there as a developmental guy as his potential for game breaking plays in the kicking game appears to be incredibly high. Plus with only 5WRs on the roster, there are spots to be had. However, he did have a history of injuries in college and already having one so soon is not a good sign. We already have one injury-riddled RB in Vereen, we do not need another.

-The big news today was that the NFLPA accepted the new IR rule change. This rule makes it so a player can come back 8-10 weeks after being placed on IR, thus not wasting a spot on the 53-man roster). This could be huge, especially in the cases of Dane Fletcher and Shiancoe. Shiancoe may be the prime candidate for this. With his injury, it looked like he was probably facing a cut. But, now Belichick can effectively place him on PUP and allow him to heal and have him ready midseason in the case of a Hernandez injury.

-Mike Rivera played well last night, and it seems to be a 3-way competition between him, Jeff Tarpinian, and Niko Koutouvides. Koutouvides' injury is clouding the situation as if it is going to be serious and keep him out of a few games, he may lose out on a spot to the other two. If his injury is not serious, then I think Rivera will end up on the practice squad and able to make it onto the active in case of an injury to one of the starters.

-The Offensive Line status is still in flux here. We have Solder, Mankins, Wendell, Connelly, Vollmer, and Cannon as locks. That's six; they will likely carry eight or nine. Nick MacDonald had seemingly secured up a roster spot, before derailed by an injury. Then, there is Donald Thomas, who has done some great work at Guard. The problem for him is lack of versatility. Bill likes his backup lineman to have versatility to fill in at multiple positions. Of course, the biggest domino yet to fall is Brian Waters. This is still a very fluid situation and we will see how it plays out.