The Patriots made a quiet roster move before their sixth training camp practice, cutting linebacker Otis Reese and opening up one more spot on the 91-man roster.
It’s not the kind of transaction that changes the shape of the team, but it does tell you where Reese stood. He had joined New England through the practice squad last November, and his path back onto the roster was always going to be steep. He had not appeared in an NFL game in almost 19 months, and the Patriots were looking at him as a depth piece and special teams option only.
That made the timing of the release feel more like a formality than a surprise. Reese was already sitting on the roster bubble, and the Patriots chose to move on before preseason even got going.
The immediate effect is simple: New England now has one open roster spot, with roster-exempt offensive tackle Lorenz Metz included, 90 of the 91 available spots are filled. That vacancy probably won’t stay open for long. The Patriots still have to get down to 53 within the next month, and they’ll have to decide how they want to use that extra space in the meantime.
One possible route is already on the table. On Friday, the Patriots brought in safeties Eric Butler and Tysheem Johnson for free agency workouts. Neither player was signed, but that kind of visit is one way the team could look to fill the opening.
Reese’s departure also trims the linebacker room from nine players to eight. Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss remain the starters, while K.J.
Britt and Chad Muma appear to be next in line based on the first six practices of camp. Undrafted rookie Khalil Jacobs has also flashed some solid moments lately.
There’s no salary-cap fallout here, either. Reese was on a non-guaranteed $1.075 million base salary, so cutting him doesn’t alter the Patriots’ cap picture. Another player at the same salary and cap hit simply takes his place on the Top 51 list.
According to Miguel Benzan, New England is currently $33.7 million under the cap, which puts the Patriots in the top eight in the NFL right now.
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