Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked In: Patriots Facing Critical Roster Decisions | Risk-Reward vs Browns

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

New England Patriots face tough roster decisions as final cuts loom. Drake Maye, Rhamondre Stevenson, and A.J. Brown headline the offensive locks, but surprise names like Efton Chism and Lan Larison shake up the depth chart. Nick Cattles breaks down Mike Vrabel’s evolving approach and debates whether the Patriots should risk starters against the Cleveland Browns in the crucial preseason finale. Key topics include the team's lack of edge depth with Harold Landry on PUP, battles for the final linebacker and secondary spots, and strategic roster math—will Greg Van Roten and James Hudson secure roles on the offensive line? Cattles weighs the risk-reward of preseason reps and spotlights potential surprise inclusions like Quintayvius Hutchins and John Saunders. Can New England’s retooled defense hold up, and which bubble players could make a late push onto the 53-man roster? Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-patriots/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ #patriots #newenglandpatriots Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Gusto Try Gusto today at gusto.com/LOCKEDONNFL, and get three months free when you run your first payroll. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COM to play Daily Dingers and make your free pick on who’s hitting a homer this MLB season. KALSHI For a limited time,Download the Kalshi app and use code [LOCKEDON] to get $10 when you trade $10. Square Get up to $200 off Square hardware when you sign up at https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl! #squarepod Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On the precipice of the final preseason game, we lay out our official 53-man roster before the final cutdowns. This is Lockdown Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots, your daily New England Patriots podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattles. On today's show, the Pats face a fascinating philosophical question against the Browns on 3rd. Thursday night. And the second segment, the lack of depth on the defensive side stands out while fielding our 53. But first, who's in, who's out on offense. The final preseason game is coming

up on Thursday night at Cleveland against the Browns. And there are some roster spots still available. But what we're going to do during this episode is give you our final 53 man roster. And then we'll finish it up, giving you a few guys who still have a chance to actually make the team out of camp. Now, let's go over the guarantees offensively. The guaranteed roster spots, three quarterbacks, Drake May, Tommy DeVito, Baron Morton. Not necessarily breaking news.

We get it. Running back. Two guaranteed spots. Ramandre Stevenson, Trayvion Henderson. Wide receiver. After the trade of Kashan booty, I said this earlier in the week. I anticipate the Patriots bringing six receivers into the regular season. Breaking Camp with A.J. Brown, Romeo Dobbs, Pop Douglas, Mac Hollins, Kyle Williams,

and Efton Chisholm is officially on the team, given the booty trait. Tight end and fullback. In the same room. So let's remember the Patriots have Reggie Gilliam, even though he has not practiced much. He is on this team. Doesn't sound like they're afraid of any injury. They're just managing him to the extreme. So three tight end slash fullbacks on the 53 guaranteed. Hunter Henry, Eli Rairden and Gilliam. Makes sense, right? Now we get into the interesting part, the offensive line. How many offensive linemen will the Patriots bring into week one in Seattle against the Seahawks September 9?

I think there are eight guaranteed spots right now the way I look at this. And I'll split it up between tackles and interior offensive line. The three tackles that no doubt are going to make this football team are your two starters. Will Campbell, Morgan Moses, and your first round pick, Caleb Lomo. That's easy. So three tackles, guaranteed. How about center slash guard? I actually have five guys who I think are roster locks right now.

Jared Wilson, obviously. Your two starting guards, Elijah Verit Tucker, and of course, Michael Wenow. Greg Van Röin is on this football team. And let's not forget about Ben Brown. Now the question is, will Ben Brown start the season on PUP? It did not sound like that was going to be the case when Mike Vrable discussed him a couple of weeks ago. It sounded like Brown was going to miss the preseason, but that he was likely going to be back for week one. So right now I have Ben Brown on this 53 as you break camp.

So Wilson, Verit Tucker, Owenu, Van Roten, Brown are your interior five. And that's actually not that bad. And that's why I like the signing of Greg Van Roe. Now, you need Vera Tucker to be better than he's been, and let's hope he is. But five guys center slash guard makes some sense. So those are your eight roster locks as far as the offensive line. Now, let's look at what the Patriots did last year when they broke camp. I believe the Patriots are going to break camp with three running backs and three tight ends.

on this 53-man roster. I would expect that to happen. So we have to find a running back to add, and we have to find a tight end to add. The running back three position on this depth chart seems like it's between Land Larison and Hassan Haskins. Now, Jam Miller left Tuesday's practice early with an injury, so we don't know Jam Miller's status.

And I like what I've seen from Miller this preseason, but if you were going to say there are two guys, it's Land Larison and I think it's Asan Haskins. Don't forget, Hassan Haskins did not take a ton of snaps against the Eagles in the preseason game. That could lead you to believe that he was actually ahead of Land Larison before that game played out. During Tuesday's practice, Larison, of course, was next man up with Trayvion Henderson not practicing. So was that a case of Larison being truly the next guy up? or was that a case of Larison actually echoes more of what Henderson can do on the field

versus Haskins, who's, you know, 6-2-220 and change. I would not be surprised. I would not be surprised if Haskins has a better shot to make this roster than some might think. He's an early downback. Again, he's big. I think he's looked good when given the opportunities. So I would not be stunned if Haskins makes this roster out of camp. but I'm actually going to go with Larison, again, given Tuesday's practice.

Next man up, I think that's a tell. So Larison is your third running back as you get ready for week one. The third tight end is interesting. If you went back to the beginning of camp, you would say that Tanner Arkin, absolutely, the UDFA, was going to make this roster. That might not be the case anymore, but I'm not going to go too crazy here. I look at what the Patriots have done during these preseason games and during these joint practices, and they've had Arkin playing fullback. He's been the only tight end for the most part that's been put in that position, which tells me if Reggie Gilliam is unable to go, Arkin would be the plan.

Much like Jack Westover last year was the plan at fullback, given you didn't really have a fullback on the roster. if Gilliam for whatever reason can't go, Arkin's going to be that guy. Now, unfortunately, Arkin has not done a good job at fullback during his opportunities, but I still think that's the Pat's plan. If Gilliam can't go,

Arkin slides in and plays some fullback to go along with in-line tight end. He's the only guy that's been doing that consistently during this camp. So I've got Arkin as your third tight end to go along with Hunter Henry and Eli Raredes. Let's get to the offensive line. Last year's offensive line,

there were nine offensive linemen on the 53-man roster once camp broke in late August. But they had eight wide receivers. They're not going to take eight wide receivers out of camp, right? So I'm actually going to add two tackles, and I'm going to end up taking 10 offensive linemen into the regular season. Now, 10 offensive linemen is a lot of offensive. lineman. And maybe the Patriots go with nine. Maybe they feel like worst case scenario, they can

slide Michael Wenu or Vera Tucker to a tackle spot and go with Van Roten or Brown to fill in at guard. But for me, I'm being cautious here if I'm the Pats. And I'm going into the season with 10 total offensive linemen, five tackles, five guards. And the final two offensive tackles really depends on Marcus Bryant, is Bryant going to be healthy? Obviously left the preseason game against the Eagles early with an ankle injury. He was not good before then playing at right tackle. If Bryant can't go, I'm going to go with James Hudson. And I know I said, look, James Hudson, I'd be surprised if he had a job by this Friday, but now they slid him back out to tackle. And according to Greg Bedard, he had a great practice on Tuesday at tackle. And I think this is more about what you

have behind Hudson, then it is talking about Hudson. If Bryant was healthy, I don't think Hudson makes this team. But because Bryant is not healthy, I'm going to go with Hudson as that next guy at tackle behind Caleb Lomu. And because I'm not in love with James Hudson, I'm also actually going to roster Demetrius Crownover. Now, again, if the Pats go with nine offensive linemen, I think crown over is the odd man out and you slide them onto the practice squad. You hope you can get them there. And I think you would. I don't think teams are going to bring crown over onto their 53.

Maybe I'm wrong. Am I excited about those two final linemen spots? I'm not. I think crown over is extremely raw. And again, Hudson was so bad against the Eagles. I'm shook. But Hudson did play guard against the Eagles. So break glass in case of an emergency, James Hudson's your guy.

and then you're going with crown over as a little bit of extra insurance. So the total roster here offensively, you've got three quarterbacks, three running backs, four tight ends slash fullbacks, six receivers and ten offensive linemen. That makes up 26 of my 53 spots going to offense. Coming up, we flip to the defensive side and tell you who makes this team out of the gates. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought you by Indeed.

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Thank you for making us your first listening for being an everydayer. Don't forget if you're watching on YouTube, help a brother out, help a channel out, help a community out by subscribing. Trying to get to 11,000 subscribers. We are well behind. Got a couple of weeks until the opener against Seattle, September 9th, that Wednesday night in Seattle. So help us out. Don't forget to subscribe.

And likes and comments, help us with that. algorithm. The defense. When I look at the 53-man roster as you break camp, the defense is much more fluid than the offense. Because with the offense, you know the quarterbacks, you know the wide receivers, you know the vast majority of the offensive line and the other positions. But defense, it gets a little interesting. So let's go over some guarantees for me on this 53 man. And I start with the assumption that Harold Landry is going to be on the pup. I don't think Landry is going to be ready by week one. I think the Patriots are disappointed by that, frustrated by that. But as I put together this 53 man, Landry on the pup. So keep that in mind. Guarantees at

edge. I only have three. Dremont Jones, Elijah Ponder, and Gabe Accus. Those are your three guarantees to make this 53 at edge. The interior. Milton Williams, Christian Barmore, obviously, are going to make this team. I've got two more guarantees. Corey Durden is going to make this football team, and I actually think Joshua Farmer is a lock. Now, some might disagree with that, and some might be right about that. But I think, you know, Joshua Farmer showed flashes last year. He has shown some flashes during this camp. He's been up and down this camp, but he does show you something, and he was a fourth round pick a year ago. I don't think he's been bad. And I don't think the page. Let's look at this and say, let's get rid of a fourth round pick from last year's draft

and replace him with somebody else that's behind him on this depth chart. So I actually think the four guarantees on the interior, Williams, Barmore, Durdon, and Farmer. Linebacker, I'm going to go with two. Roberts Spillane and Christian Ellis. Those are my only guarantees at that position. Cornerback, I'm going with five. Obviously Christian Gonzalez, obviously Carlton Davis, obviously Marlinson Davis, obviously Marcus Jones. Kindle,

Vildor is on this roster. To me, he's a lock. I think he had a really good week against the Eagles and totality. He's come on over the past couple of weeks. I think Vildor's on this team. I also think that right now Charles Woods is on this

team. Now, we'll get to some names in a few minutes that might change that math. But right now I have Woods on. But he's one of those guys that I would not be shocked if he's not on, and there's another corner behind Vildor.

But I think you got five locks, five guarantees for the cornerback position. I'm a little if he on Woods, but I feel right now he's on this team. Safety. I've got four guys. I think there are four locks. Now, again, I might end up being wrong here,

but obviously Craig Woodson, lock, Kevin Byard, lock. And I actually think Jalen Reid, since you traded Kishon Booty for him this week. He's making the football team. So those are three surefire guys aside from health that you will see. Woodson, Byrd, and Reed. And I'm actually going to keep Del Pettis because Reed is new.

He's got to acclimate to this scheme. He's got to figure out what he's doing. So I think if you're going to walk into the regular season with four safeties that are locks, then I think you've got Pettus on this roster, Woodson, Byard, and the guy you just traded for. Now let's look at last year's initial 53. the Patriots broke camp with five edge players. Now, I could argue that you would leave this camp with four,

but I don't think you're in that position. It's similar to tackle. Do I love these options? I don't. And as I talked about with the Harold Landry episode yesterday, I think it's roster malpractice if the pads don't add a veteran edge over the next week and a half. I think they have to do that. But this is today, this is right now.

So to cover yourself because I don't love what you have at edge. And considering in my math here, Landry is going to be on the pup, Jesse Lucetta is going to make this team. I think he edges out Brayden Swinson because Brayden Swinson played a lot of football against the Eagles in that second preseason game. And I don't think he was very good. And I'm going to go at Quintavius Hutchins. And this might be somewhat polarizing. but again, look at your options at Edge. And I would rather take a swing at Hutchins right now over Swinson from what I've seen.

Hutchins plays some special teams. He has juice off the edge. He had some flashes against the Eagles, including the strip sack, that finished that game. So that Edge Group, man, not a fan. It's not great, right? Without Landry, you got Draymond Jones, Elijah Ponder, Gabe Accus, Jesse Lucetta, and Quintavius Hutchins. Not good enough for a contending team.

They've got to add there. But again, right now, today, that's what I have. The Patriots took five defensive linemen in 2025 into, well, actually breaking camp. And I think Leonard Taylor's the next man up. I think he played well against Philly. I think he did enough last year. Of course, he had the big block last year in the postseason. I'm going to go with Leonard Taylor as my fifth guy.

Last year, the Patriots had, you know, five safeties. They then cut Gibral peppers. I just have to say, John Saunders has been too good for me to not make this team. And I know that would give you five safeties. And I don't know what's going on where Brendan Schuler will get to him in a couple of minutes. And I know taking five safeties might seem heavy. But John Saunders has been so good. he's earned a spot.

Now, maybe Saunders replaces Del Pettus. Maybe Pettus is the odd man out and you only take four safeties. That's why I said, you know, right now I got Pettus, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's something different that happens. John Saunders has had a better camp than Pettus. But maybe the Patriots feel like they could get Saunders on the practice squad. I have both making it right now. If you asked me who I might lean towards, I actually might lean to, I actually might lean

towards Saunders. So maybe I should change that and have Saunders instead of Pettus as the guarantee. That's what I'm going to do. I'll put Saunders as the lock and Pettis as the fifth guy. But I do think they take five safeties in. Saunders has to be on this roster. I just think he's on it. Linebacker. Again, I only took two as guarantees, Spillane and Ellis, the obvious two. I would take KJ. Britt and Khalil Jacobs right now. Of course, Khalil Jacobs left the Eagles preseason game with an injury. He's not practiced this week.

We'll see what happens with him. But right now, you know, KJ Britt up and down, according to others that have been at practice earlier this week, Britt showed up a little bit. So I think Brits on this team. And I think Jacobs, if he's healthy, is on this team. So your totals on the defense. You've got five defense events.

You've got five interior linemen. You've got four linebackers, five corners, five safeties. Again, you might not have five safeties. You might have four. And we'll see it's Pettus versus Saunders. That makes up 24 of your 53 spots coming from defense. So my basic math skills tell me, 26 on offense, 24 on defense. That gives me pity.

So that's 50 of your 53 spots. Take it up. leaves me three spots for the special teams guys. I think, you know, Brendan Schooler, it's a non-football injury list thing, but he hasn't been around. So I don't know what's going on with Brendan Scholar, but since he has not been around,

I'm going to guess that he'll be on a list as the season starts. Bryce Beringer got hurt against the Eagles. Obviously, the Patriots signed a new punter this week, Matt Hawk. so I think Hawk will be your punter coming out of camp. And then you've got Ashby and Boragallis as your two other specialists, long snapper kicker. So I've got Hawk, Ashby, Boragallis. Now, here are some guys that I think have a legitimate shot to usurp somebody else on this roster

and make the 53. Karan Prunty. Now, you could put Pronti on this team. You could put Prunty over Charles Woods. Wouldn't be surprised by that, given. that Prunty was a fifth round pick in this draft. I also would not be surprised if the paths are a little bit more comfortable with Woods. They've played him ahead of Prunty during this camp.

But I do think Karan Pronti has a legitimate shot at making this roster. I would not be surprised. We discussed Asan Haskins earlier. Everything I said stands. Eric Gregory. Gregory has a shot. I think it's an outside shot, but he's got a shot. Namdi Obi-I-Zor has a shot, especially if Khalil Jacobs can't go.

OBI-I-Zor is probably ahead of Chad Mooma at this point, given the way Moom has looked the past couple of weeks. So I think NAMD-O-B-I-Zor has a chance to make some moves on this roster here if he goes out and plays well against the Browns on Thursday night. Braden Swinson has a shot. Now, I think Quintavius Hutchins would be taken over him. I think Jesse Lucchetta would be taken over him. But by no means, would I bet on that?

I wouldn't be surprised if Swinson makes it over Lucetta or Hudson. Watch it. Jack Westover. Now you might say C.J. Dupree, but I think Westover has the edge on Dupree. And I wouldn't be shocked if Westover is taken over Arkin, although I do feel like, you know, Arkin's pretty safe. And I'll also throw Jacob Rizzi in here as the backup center because we don't really know what's going on with Ben Brown. So there's your 53 man roster as you break camp. Should the Pats play their starters on Thursday night? My answer coming up next. This is On Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were

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growing the business instead of managing software. I mean, think about it. An adjustment a coaching staff makes. The adjustment itself, it's important, but what really makes things click is how smoothly that adjustment gets implemented. The best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. And that's true in sports, just like it is in business.

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And there it is. A good amount of the water found my chest. So try not to be distracted. You probably will if you're watching the video now that I've pointed that out. It is what it is. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. Like, comment on my spot. Fascinating philosophical question for the Browns preseason game on Thursday night.

Do you play the starters? The Patriots have had pretty much zero urgency in playing guys against the Colts and the Eagles in the first two preseason games. You could say you chalk that up to the joint practices. Mike Vrable's been asked about this multiple times over the past few days, and he hasn't shown his hand. Now he did talk about the depth, so maybe that was showing his hand, but he said just a couple of days ago

that the pets had not made an official decision as to whether or not they were going to play their guys. I don't think you need to. And I would lean towards not playing the starters against the Browns. Because to me, the risk of injury far outweighs the advantage gained by playing your starters a series or two in the final preseason game. And for me, you know, if you look at the risk versus the reward, the reward is not big enough to justify throwing Drake May and company out there

against the Browns on Thursday night. And I'll give you an example. You know, the commanders decided to play Jaden Daniels last weekend. And Daniels played one series. And you might say, well, you know, what's the risk if you play one series? During that one series, Daniels was pressured,

Daniels was sacked, and then on like a third and 20, the commanders ran the football. Now let me ask you, on that second down play when Daniels was sacked, say Daniels got hurt. If you were a commander's fan, would you look at it and say,

well, at least he got that one series in, right? at least he got a couple of snaps. So I just think the risk far outweighs the reward, and I would not play my starters. And it's even more of a risk because of what Vrable mentioned last weekend. The Patriots are thin at multiple positions. I mean, imagine if you get an injury to an Elijah Ponder or Draymont Jones at defense

event. That would literally be death at the edge position. Imagine if you got an injury at tight end. that would be brutal. If you lost one of Hunter Henry or Eli Rairdon in the final preseason game, my goodness, now you're looking at Hunter Henry and Tanner Arkin and probably C.J. Dupree as your third guy. That's a disaster.

If Henry went down, you're looking at a rookie and Eli Rairden and a couple of UDFAs. So I just, I don't see it. If you lose a starting linebacker, who's starting for you in week one? You pumped and jacked about KJ Britt out there against the Seahawks? Does that excite you? Defensive tackle. Do you not need Milton Williams and Christian Barmore badly? I say yes.

You need those guys to be 100% for week one. So you're just, you're too thin at too many positions to risk it. And on top of that, let's not forget the Patriots, as I've continued to mention to try to get subscribers, week one, Wednesday night, September 9th, Wednesday night, not Sunday. So you'll lose all that time. You lose Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday to make sure your guy is healthy if he got banged up in this final preseason game. So if anybody gets banged up of importance during this Browns preseason game, they're now going to have four or five days less to recover to get ready for week one.

So the way the schedule lays out, I just think it makes a lot more sense. Let's be safe here. Let's be safe. And the game plans are really vanilla. It's not like you're going to work on much that you'll need in season. And Greg Bedard pointed this out on Twitter this week. You know, the Seahawks, they haven't played anyone. in their preseason games.

And they actually had only one joint practice. The Patriots obviously have had three. And both these teams coming up, coming off, you know, short off seasons. Even if the pads get off to a slow start the first couple weeks of the regular season, I'd rather play it safe and have my guys out there ready for week one.

So I would not play the starters on Thursday night. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube trying to get to those 11,000 subs, the likes and the comments, help us with that YouTube algorithm. And if you're watching on YouTube, go and check out Lockdown NFL 24-7, that stream. It's the first of its kind.

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