10 Patriots Who Will Be Cut by Tuesday’s Roster Deadline

2. Isaiah Bolden

It feels icky to write anything negative about Isaiah Bolden right now while he’s dealing with a scary concussion, but it’s the unfortunate nature of the NFL.

His clearest path to make the 53-man roster right now is to be kept so that he can be placed in I.R. with a designation to return. But that means he’d still be taking up space at the roster deadline, and he just hasn’t shown enough to be worth making a maneuver like that.

The seventh-round pick had a very mediocre showing against the Houston Texans, and then was downright bad against the Packers before suffering his injury.

He may have the potential to develop into something more, but that’s not something you bank on with a 53-man roster spot for a seventh-round pick. And it’s especially not something you do when they’re already going to be missing time with injury.

Things would be different if Bolden were, say, a fourth-round pick or at least a fourth-round talent who had fallen in the draft. Things might be different if he were still a seventh-round pick but had shown out in the preseason.

But unfortunately, Bolden just hasn’t given the Patriots any reason to bring him onto the 53-man roster. It’s a tough business, but once Bolden is healthy don’t be surprised if we see the Patriots bring him back onto the practice squad.