New England Patriots: Predicting the Week 1 roster in July
As of Wednesday, we are now just 50 days away from the start of the NFL season when the New England Patriots will take on the Kansas City Chiefs.
The New England Patriots won Super Bowl LI with a loaded roster, and for this season they’ve only gotten stronger. While they lost LeGarrette Blount, they brought in Mike Gillislee and Rex Burkhead. Logan Ryan walked away but he’s been replaced by Stephon Gilmore. Brandin Cooks has been added to Tom Brady’s long list of weapons.
New England is in prime position to win another Super Bowl, and a win this season would mean we are in the midst of a second Brady-Belichick dynasty. The Patriots won it all in 3 of 4 years between 2001-2004. They could repeat that feat as they won in 2014 and 2016. A title would mean 6 rings for Brady, the greatest QB of all time.
Though it’s still early in July, the New England Patriots roster seems mostly set in place. There could be a few surprises as training camp and preseason games are still to come, but I will address those changes then. For now, here are my thoughts and projections for the Patriots 53-man Opening Night roster.
Starters have a (*) and are in bold.
Quarterbacks
- #7 Jacoby Brissett
- #10 Jimmy Garoppolo
- #12 Tom Brady*
No questions here, Tom Brady is again your Opening Night starter. This season, he’ll get to play in every single regular season game. Brady hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down so with his new weapons expect another huge year from him.
Jimmy Garoppolo will spend another season as the backup, while Jacoby Brissett likely won’t see much action.