Pats Pulpit
Coming off their mini-bye following a Thursday night win over the New York Jets, the New England Patriots decided to make some changes to their roster and practice squad. They promoted rookie tight end C.J. Dippre to the 53-man team, waived safety John Saunders Jr, signed linebacker Otis Reese to the practice squad and sent fellow LB Darius Harris to the practice squad injured reserve.
Let’s find out what the moves, with a particular focus on Dippre and Saunders Jr, mean for the team.
With Austin Hooper dealing with a concussion, the Patriots had only one true tight end available for last week’s game against the Jets: Hunter Henry was the lone TE on the game day team, and he ended up playing all but four of New England’s 67 offensive snaps on the day. With Hooper’s status still TBD heading toward this week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, the team bolstered its on-roster depth.
From a functional perspective, however, the move has no real impact. He already filled the TE3 role while on the practice squad, with the only difference being that there were only three standard elevations available. That restriction is now gone, while simultaneously creating space on the practice squad for another backup TE to be added to the mix.
Including Thomas Odukoya, who carries an international exemption and is therefore ineligible to appear in any games this year, the Patriots’ tight end group now looks as follows:
53-man roster (3): Hunter Henry (85), Austin Hooper (81), C.J. Dippre (82)
Practice squad exempt (1): Thomas Odukoya (88)
Besides those four players, the team also has extra depth available in the form of fullback Jack Westover and offensive linemen Ben Brown and Vederian Lowe. All three served as extra tight ends with a focus on in-line blocking at times this season.
Releasing Saunders Jr, on the other hand, has a bigger impact on the depth at his position. With him gone, the Patriots are down to five safeties between their active roster and practice squad:
53-man roster (4): Jaylinn Hawkins (21), Craig Woodson (31), Dell Pettus (24), Brenden Schooler (41)
Practice squad (1): Richie Grant (39)
While Saunders Jr. did not see any playing time since arriving via the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad in late October, he did provide emergency depth at safety and in the kicking game. That layer, at least temporarily, has now been removed.
The Patriots signing Dippre to their roster despite all three of his standard elevations still available hints at him receiving interest from other teams. While he could have easily been poached from the practice squad, other teams cannot sign him away now that he is on the 53-man roster.
More so than the depth considerations, promoting him therefore might means ensuring his future is in New England rather than elsewhere.
Dippre is not the first Patriots practice squad player to be promoted this season. There...
