Lamenting that "it just didn't work out," Bill Belichickconfirmed Tuesday that his team had parted company with veteran WR Joey Galloway.
"You know, he's had a great career," the Patriots head coach told reporters late today. "I don't think it's anyone's fault … it's just one of those things."
Belichick cited similar reasons for cutting TE Michael Matthews, for whom the Pats traded with the New York Giants last month.
"We just decided to move on in a different direction," Belichick said of the Matthews move.
The compensation for Matthews was conditional, based on his performance and longevity with New England. As a result of his being released, the Pats will not forfeit any draft picks to New York, Belichick said.
In addition, after cutting LB Tully Banta-Cainon Monday, the Pats quickly re-signed him on Tuesday, presumably in an effort to work out a new contract. However, Belichick declined to go into detail as to why the team had to resort to cutting Banta-Cain in order to restructure his contract. Meanwhile, Belichick revealed that, contrary to prior media reports, the Patriots never released LB Eric Alexander. He remains with the club.
The releases of Galloway and Matthews, however, open up a pair of spots on New England's 53-man roster. How exactly Belichick will fill them remains to be seen, but it's possible he could activate OL Mark LeVoirand/or rookie WR Brandon Tate, both of whom have been on inactive lists (PUP and NFI) to start this season.
Both LeVoir and Tate took part in today's walkthrough practice, meaning New England must now decide within the next few weeks whether or not to activate them.
"We'll wait and see how that goes .We haven't seen them do anything yet," Belichick stated. "By the end of the week, there's a good possibility that we'll add somebody to those roster spots. Could be practice squad players, could be PUP players … I don't know yet. Those are possibilities."
Finally, with regard to injured RB Sammy Morris, who left the Titans/Oilers game this past Sunday with a knee injury, Belichick wouldn't say what his status was for this weekend, but he did express confidence that Morris would be back sometime this season.
Tuesday locker room/practice notes
Due to the unique circumstances of having to play overseas this weekend, the Patriots have altered their typical work week. Normally, the team has Tuesdays off during the season, but the players were out on the field for a walkthrough session in just their sweat suits today. They'll practice again Wednesday and Thursday before departing Thursday evening for London, where they'll play the Tampa Bay Bucs on Sunday.
As is the case during training camp walkthroughs, it's nearly impossible to get an accurate attendance count, but it appeared that nearly every player was in attendance, except for injured guys like LT Matt Light and RBs Fred Taylorand Morris.
No sign yet of the practice players of the week, although practice squad DB Kyle Arringtonwas seen hanging the Dirty Show Champions belt from his locker.
