Cleveland, Ohio — The Patriots wrapped up the preseason with a starter-less exhibition at Huntington Bank Field on Thursday night, where New England fell 37-13 to the Browns.
38 Patriots didn't dress for Thursday night's game: two are on the reserve lists (Harold Landry III, Brenden Schooler), S Jaylen Reed just got here, and seven might've played if healthy (Bryce Baringer, Eric Butler, Marcus Bryant, Ben Brown, Xavier Holmes, Khalil Jacobs, and Loretz Metz). The other 28 players are probably roster locks: Christian Gonzalez, AJ Brown, DeMario Douglas, Craig Woodson, Dre'Mont Jones, Carlton Davis, Drake Maye, Mack Hollins, Robert Spillane, Marcus Jones, Kevin Byard, TreVeyon Henderson, Rhamondre Stevenson, Reggie Gilliam, Christian Elliss, Jared Wilson, Will Campbell, Greg Van Roten, Mike Onwenu, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Morgan Moses, Eli Raridon, Hunter Henry, Romeo Doubs, Christian Barmore, Elijah Ponder, Cory Durden, and Milton Williams.
"I just think that it's best for us right now to try to start next week with the guys that we have. I know it's a difficult decision. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. We have to just continue to try to prepare the football team the best that we can. We just wanted to try to get to the regular season with the guys that we have," head coach Mike Vrabel said post-game on Thursday night.
The Patriots opted to sit their starters in all three preseason games, with Vrabel citing injury risk and a lack of roster depth as his reasoning. There's also a chance that a shortened offseason following a long playoff run to Super Bowl LX played a role in Vrabel's decision. The Patriots starters got plenty of reps in three combined joint practices with the Colts and Eagles rather than risking game action 13 days before a Super Bowl rematch vs. the Seahawks, who also didn't play any starters in the preseason, for what that's worth.
Ultimately, Vrabel and many other coaches are deciding that playing starters for a few drives to run base plays against vanilla defenses isn't worth it. Along with injury risk, coaches don't want to reveal too much information by running schemes they want to preserve for the regular season. In joint practices, there's less injury risk because quarterbacks are in red non-contact jerseys and there's no live tackling but there's also the element of keeping fresh schemes and new additions to the roster under wraps.
For entertainment purposes, the preseason has become less fun for everyone. That said, most fans and pundits can agree that it would be much worse to see a star player injured than sitting through August exhibitions that don't have much juice. Would the starters be better prepared for the first couple of weeks of the regular season by playing in the preseason? Maybe. But the bottom line is that more and more teams don't think it moves the needle enough to put their best players in harm's way.
From this perspective, Vrabel opting to sit his starters in all three preseason games falls under the interesting but not important category. It's notable that the days of starters playing into the second halves of preseason games are long gone. But it's hard to get worked up about New England going the joint practice over preseason route when an experienced coaching staff is returning and most of their frontline starters are established players in the league at this stage of their careers.
Here are eight takeaways from the Patriots preseason finale vs. the Browns in Cleveland on Thursday night.
1. Patriots Backup Defense Struggles vs. Browns Backups, QB3 Dillon Gabriel
As for how the game went, the depth talk will be in full swing this week after the Patriots top backups on defense allowed three straight scoring drives to Browns third-string QB Dillon Gabriel in a 17-point first quarter for Cleveland. Although the Pats second-team offense fared better, with backup QB Tommy DeVito throwing a 45-yard touchdown to WR Kyle Williams on New England's opening drive, Gabriel and the Browns offense will fuel the depth debates in the Boston media heading into the regular season.
"Not good enough," Vrabel said about the Patriots effort on defense. "We got some sudden change stops forcing them to kick fields goals, which I think is always positive. But, you know, not good enough. Couldn't match the speed of the quarterback on some zone-read plays. We'll get back to work and figure out who we're gonna get back to work with."
In particular, Gabriel attacked Patriots corners Kindle Vildor, Karon Prunty, Charles Woods, and Marcellas Dial Jr. Behind top corners Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis, and Marcus Jones, one would expect two of the four corners who played on Thursday night to be in the mix for roster spots. Vildor was making a late push to be the Pats top backup corner but he allowed a 21-yard completion and was called for a 28-yard DPI on a third-down target. Prunty allowed a 19-yard completion, and Dial and Woods allowed touchdowns.
If the Patriots have injuries at corner, linebacker, or defensive tackle, there's a noticeable dropoff to their current backups at those positions. After Vrabel admitted to a lack of roster depth last week, Thursday night's performance by the top backups on defense didn't do much to quell those concerns.
2. Play of the Game: WR Kyle Williams Hauls in Third Touchdown Catch of the Preseason
On a positive note, the Patriots second-team offense showed off the explosiveness we've seen in camp with a six-play touchdown drive led by backup QB Tommy DeVito. Williams is in line to have a larger role after the Patriots traded WR Kayshon Boutte to the Texans, opening the door for the 2025 third-round pick to be a top backup to A.J. Brown at the X-receiver spot. Along with being Brown's backup, Williams's vertical speed can bring an explosive gear to the Patriots passing attack as a go-ball specialist on the outside.
On his 45-yard touchdown catch vs. the Browns, Williams uses an excellent crossover release and pulls away from former Patriots undrafted rookie D'Angelo Ross for the score. Williams ran a very similar route on his 69-yard TD and 12-yard TD earlier this preseason. Although some might be clamoring for Williams to expand his repertoire to more than just go routes, the second-year wideout has a specialty that can help the Patriots offense this season.
"It's easy for us [quarterbacks]. The hardest thing is to judge how fast he's rolling because he can roll," DeVito said of Williams. "He's so explosive at the line of scrimamge with his release package and he's such a vertical threat to these DBs. They have to respect it and that compliments the rest of the routes he can run. It's just a testament to him. He's been working at it and giving us a chance to get [the ball] to him."
3. First-Rounder Caleb Lomu Plays First Two Drives vs. the Browns (9 total snaps)
Lomu only played nine snaps after nearly going the distance last Saturday night vs. the Eagles (57 snaps), which explains his light workload in the preseason finale on a short week. On initial viewing, Lomu didn't allow a pressure in six pass-blocking snaps and was only on the field for three run plays. It was notable that the coaching staff got him some game reps at right tackle after he played on the left side vs. Philly. Lomu is in the mix to be the Patriots top swing tackle this season, which means he'll need to be comfortable playing both sides, but his long-term home will most likely be at right tackle. Lomu's final tally from his rookie preseason (pending review): 112 snaps (60 at LT, 52 at RT), three total pressures allowed, one sack allowed.
4. Second-Rounder Gabe Jacas Plays 19 Snaps in Preseason Finale
New England's other top-100 draft pick that was active for Thursday night's preseason finale was a bit more up-and-down. Jacas logged a pressure but was also in the area on a read-option play that went for an 8-yard gain to move the chains on third down. The QB keeper by Gabriel looks bad on the TV copy but my view is that NCB Charles Woods might've been the "force" defender responsible for setting the edge. That would then mean Jacas has the back, so that's why he's crashing inside. If I had to guess, that's a play that looks worse than it is for Jacas but it's still another poor edge set that he was involved in this summer.
5. Lan Larison Starts at Running Back, Hassan Haskins Flashes Power vs. Browns
With second-year RB TreVeyon Henderson nursing an injury, Larison was the next running back up in Tuesday's practice behind Stevenson and started Thursday night's game. That could signal Larison as the favorite to win the RB3 job but he dropped a third-down pass he might've turned into a first down (the ball was thrown slightly behind him). As for Haskins, he converted a 4th-and-inches and forced two missed tackles. Haskins is definitely more of a downhill runner between the two tackles than Larison. He'll get what's blocked for you but Larison has upside as a sub-package back. Larison's "gritty" performance in Week 2 of the preseason might be enough to earn the RB3 job to start the season.
6. P Matt Haack Impresses as Replacement for Injured Bryce Baringer
On special teams, the Patriots are trying out punters with incumbent Bryce Baringer working through an injury that he suffered early in the second preseason game vs. the Eagles. On Thursday night, Matt Haack made the most of his opportunities by booming a 63-yard punt (plus-50) and pinning the Browns on their 2-yard line with a 42-yard punt from the NE 47. Cleveland's returners did him some favors on the net average by reversing field on his own goal line and allowing the 63-yard punt to roll down to his own 2-yard line. Still, Haack showed he could be serviceable if Baringer can't punt in Week 1 with three I20s.
7. K Andy Borregales Finishes Preseason Strong by Making All Three Kicks
With the Patriots being down their top punter and Borregales's early-summer struggles, special teams was a top storyline heading into Thursday night's game. Haack already passed his test as New England's first call to fill in for Baringer. As for Borregales, he made all three of his kicks: two chip shot field goals (33 yards, 26 yards) and an extra point. Borregales wasn't tested in the final two preseason games like he was with multiple 50-plus yard attempts vs. the Colts but he made all seven of his kicks in the final two preseason games to finish strong this summer.
8. Patriots QBs Coach Ashton Grant Calls Offensive Plays vs. Browns
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel gave an up-and-coming assistant coach some time in the spotlight by having QBs coach Ashton Grant call offensive plays on Thursday night. Head coaches often give their assistants a chance to showcase their play-calling in the preseason, so Josh McDaniels gave the reins to two of their top lieutenants in Cleveland. After the game, Vrabel spoke about why it was important to give Grant play-calling duties.
"Josh has called plenty of games in the NFL," Vrabel joked. "Ashton is a very, very good young offensive football coach. I try to look for places to be able to give coaches opportunities."
Grant is a rising star in the coaching ranks and interviewed with the Raiders for their vacant offensive coordinator position last offseason. Grant chose to return to the Patriots rather than pursue promotions elsewhere to keep working with Maye and McDaniels. He is a name to watch in the coaching carousel in the coming years.
Next, the Patriots will be trimming their 91-man roster down to 53 players by Sunday's 6 p.m. ET deadline. There will be plenty of roster movement to analyze in the coming days.
DISCLAIMER: The views and thoughts expressed in this article are those of the writer and don't necessarily reflect those of the organization. Read Full Disclaimer
