New England Patriots Roster Begins to Take Form

Photo via Mike McCarn (AP Photo)

In the wake of New England's 25-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Friday, here is a look at some players who are boosting their stock within the organization, others who have struggled, and the evolution of the linebacker group.

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Phillip Dorsett

Dorsett has begun to emerge as a preferred target for Tom Brady. He has gotten a solid load of reps early in each of the first three preseason games, highlighted by four receptions in the first half of the most recent contest.

Julian Edelman is a known commodity, but Chris Hogan has struggled so far and was only once targeted on Friday. That leaves Dorsett, who was thought to be the third option at best, as the next man up.

Interestingly, Dorsett has been used in a much wider array of roles than he had been when he was first acquired (in exchange for Jacoby Brissett) last year. His primary role was as a backup deep threat to Brandin Cooks, but now he's receiving significant time in the slot, suggesting that he may become the top wideout (in terms of targets) to start the season, while Edelman serves his suspension.

Cordarrelle Patterson

Patterson has been the most entertaining player to watch. He's been used all over the field, including the backfield, and appears to be a matchup nightmare.

Patterson hasn't returned a lot of punts throughout his career, but has begun to receive looks there, in addition to his kick return duties, on which he holds the second-highest yards per return in NFL history.

Whether he fields kicks and punts once the season starts will largely depend on how much he's needed on offense (and vice versa), but it's clear to see why Bill Belichick viewed Patterson as an x-factor when he pulled off the trade for him this offseason.

"The Jones Brothers"

In his first action since tearing his ACL last preseason, Cyrus Jones had a decent showing, which helps his case immensely. The most important thing for the 2016 second round pick to do is simply avoid making mistakes, on kick returns or in coverage on defense, and he seemed to do just that in his first game back.

Provided he can have one more solid showing next week, he should, if nothing else, have the backup returner position locked up. However, he was also given time at cornerback (which is anyone's for the taking) and free safety.

Jonathan Jones, on the other hand, is strictly a nickel cornerback. Like Cyrus, however, Friday was his first live action, and he also had a strong showing. He made strides in coverage last year, even stealing reps in the slot with the secondary at full strength, and if you didn't know any better, you wouldn't have known he'd been out since the second round of the postseason.

Eric Rowe

This may perhaps be the most uplifting development of all. Rowe had a pretty terrible showing in the Super Bowl, when he started on the outside in place of Malcolm Butler. Since New England let Butler walk in the offseason, there have been questions about whether he can handle starting, opposite of Gilmore.

The questions seem to have been put to rest. Rowe hasn't surrendered much production to receivers he has covered this preseason, and he had an impressive pass breakup in the end zone on Friday.

Needs Some Works

Eric Decker

It's becoming apparent that Decker isn't the answer that the organization was hoping he would be. He's played extremely sparingly with the first unit, and mainly in garbage time. Even in that role, he hasn't separated himself from the pack, despite the opportunities he has received to do so.

Decker isn't as quick as he once was, he's struggling to get open, and his typically soft hands have eluded him thus far. Even with the release of Kenny Britt, he doesn't seem to be a lock to make the team. Riley McCarron has offered more production as a safety valve, not to mention on special teams.

Offensive Line

The Patriots were playing a very strong Carolina front seven, but Brady was under duress at times and running backs rarely had any lanes to slide through. In a week when Jeremy Hill and Mike Gillislee would've ideally gotten a lot of work in order to be properly evaluated, the Panthers eliminated the run game entirely.

The trio among the interior (Joe Thuney, David Andrews and Shaq Mason) simply had a bad matchup against Carolina's defensive tackles and linebackers, but any signs of competency from an offensive tackle (Trent Brown, LaAdrian Waddle, or any of the backups) would be welcomed with open arms. This week was not their week.

It's well documented that the Patriots don't run the ball a lot and Brady gets the ball out quickly, but the offense won't be able to function anywhere near optimally until someone shows something at either tackle position, especially with no established slot receiver initially to utilize the quick passing game.

Defensive Line

The rotation among the defensive line needs to be sorted out. Trey Flowers, Malcom Brown and Adrian Clayborn should start, but the fourth spot needs to be determined, as do the go-to backups.

Danny Shelton, Lawrence Guy, Deatrich Wise and Derek Rivers are the likely favorites (in some capacity), but the volume and situation in which they'll all play is still in flux. Plus, there are likely two more spots for Vincent Valentine, Adam Butler, Geneo Grissom, Eric Lee and/or Keionta Davis. Any of these players should have roughly equal odds of making the roster.

The bigger complexity, however, may be orchestrating a consistent pass rush. Flowers hasn't played much in the preseason, so he (and Clayborn on the other side) should provide a boost. After that, they have no proven production. Rivers, a 2017 third round pick who missed all of his rookie season, is likely next in line, but the action he's getting right now is the first he's had on the NFL stage.

Danny Etling

This is in no way his fault. Etling just hasn't been given enough opportunity to merit an evaluation yet. Up to this point, the seventh round rookie has only thrown six passes, which is puzzling, considering second-stringer Brian Hoyer is at little risk of getting cut due to his veteran presence.

Even so, the Patriots could likely get him through waivers and bring him back onto the practice squad, but what's the good in that? The young guys need these reps more than anyone.

Additional Notes

Since the running back room can only receive an incomplete evaluation this week, let's jump to the linebacker room, where the pecking order is beginning to solidify after a down year in 2017.

It was already pretty clear that Dont'a Hightower, upon his return, would quickly re-establish himself as the leader of the group. Once that occurred, Kyle Van Noy would drop back down the ladder by a peg, as would Elandon Roberts. After that, however, there was uncertainty.

Ja'Whaun Bentley, a fifth round selection out of Purdue, has reportedly done nothing but make plays all offseason, and that has continued into the preseason, including returning a fumble recovery for a touchdown. He's also a hard hitter in his own right and has the athleticism to hold his own in coverage. At this stage, he's likely the fourth linebacker, and he should have a chance to make his case to move up as the year progresses.

From there, Marquis Flowers, Nicholas Grigsby, and sixth-round rookie Christian Sam are fighting for up to two (but likely one) additional spot.

Additionally, cornerback Jason McCourty played a fair chunk of the second half at both free and strong safety. Since he hasn't taken hold of a starting job at corner, showing off various skills could raise his value enough to merit keeping him, especially since the team loves to use additional safeties in sub packages, more so that most of the league.

The Patriots have one last preseason game, which comes against the Giants on Thursday at 7:00 p.m., before cutting down rosters to 53 men plus 10 practice squad members, leading up to the season opener against the Texans. Be on the lookout for roster projections as the preseason finale approaches.