The Patriots’ preseason finale in Cleveland may have done more to clarify the roster than the box score ever will.
Before the game against the Browns, Mike Vrabel signaled that no starters would take the field Thursday night. That would make it the first time in many years that no starters played in a preseason game, not even for a single snap, and the reaction to that call has been split.
There’s a straightforward reason to understand it. With several starters around the league already getting hurt, and with the Patriots not exactly carrying a deep roster, keeping the top guys out 13 days before their Super Bowl rematch with the Seahawks makes sense. But there’s another side to it, too: those starters won’t get any live reps before Week 1, and that can turn into a real problem.
Still, the bigger takeaway from the night may be what the sideline looked like. At the start of the game, 38 players were in street clothes, a huge jump from one week earlier. That group likely points to a chunk of players who are now sitting comfortably as roster locks with cuts just days away.
The names on that list tell a story of their own.
At wide receiver and tight end, the Patriots held out A.J. Brown, DeMario Douglas, Mack Hollins, Romeo Doubs, Hunter Henry and Eli Raridon. Most of those choices aren’t especially shocking, since several are either established starters or players brought in to fill that kind of role.
The more interesting part comes elsewhere, especially along the defensive line, where some of the names were a little less obvious. A few of those players didn’t make much noise over the summer, so the most reasonable read is that the staff may see them as key depth pieces rather than front-line contributors.
Even so, plenty of other players in similar situations were still out there against the Browns.
So the game didn’t answer every question. But it did give a clearer look at how the Patriots’ coaching staff is sorting through the roster as cutdown day approaches.
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The Patriots are in the thick of roster-cut season, and the most vulnerable names are the young players who do not have enough NFL service to avoid the waiver wire. New England must trim from 90 to 53 by the Aug. 30 deadline, which means a wave of moves is coming fast, and for anyone with fewer than four years in the league, release day does not end the story. Those players have to pass through waivers first, giving other teams a chance to swoop in before the Patriots can even think about bringing them back.
For vested veterans, the path is different, since they become free agents immediately if New England lets them go. The real tension for the Patriots is not just who survives the cuts, but who becomes available to the rest of the league along the way, especially with waiver priority still tied to the current draft order. As the front office sorts out the final roster, the next few days could turn a few marginal decisions into roster losses elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Patriots Roster Battles Suddenly Feel Bigger After Flat Preseason Finish
The Patriots closed out their 2026 preseason with a 37-13 loss to the Browns, a game that mostly featured backups and rookies with many of New Englands starters sitting out. Cleveland put 27 points on the board in the first half, leaving the Patriots to spend one last August night sorting through depth-chart questions rather than building much momentum.
Kyle Williams at least kept giving the staff something to think about, with the second-year wide receiver finding the end zone in each of the teams three preseason games. Even in a preseason finale that turned flat quickly, performances like that tend to linger as the roster decisions tighten, especially for players trying to turn late-summer production into a real role once the games count. [Read more 🡒]
Vrabel Put Patriots Effort And Execution On Notice After Ugly Loss
Mike Vrabel did not sugarcoat the Patriots 37-13 preseason loss to the Browns, framing his postgame assessment in the blunt terms that have quickly become part of his coaching identity. He broke the performance into three buckets - good, bad and the kind of stuff that gets you beat - and the middle two categories had plenty of company after a night when New England struggled in the situations that matter most, especially on third downs and in the red zone.
The encouraging part for the Patriots is that they walked away without any major injuries, and the core roster was not on the field for this one. Even so, Vrabel made it clear the issues went beyond the scoreboard, pointing to a lack of energy and competitiveness that stood out in an ugly showing. With more meaningful preseason reps still ahead, the expectation is that New England will look more like itself soon, but this was the kind of performance that puts effort and execution under a harsher spotlight. [Read more 🡒]