While banging out the final item in the Preseason Power Rankings, with a combined entry for the No. 2 and the No. 1 teams, we noticed that the Patriots (who are one of the two teams but you’ll have to click here to find out which one) have updated their depth chart as of September 8.
And running back Laurence Maroney has been buried on it.
The first-team tailback on the offensive side of the chart, which lists three starting wideouts and only one running back, is Sammy Morris. Behind him on the second team are Kevin Faulk and Fred Taylor. On the third team, it’s Maroney and BenJarvus Green-Ellis.
It’s a significant fall from grace for the 2006 first-round pick. But as Rosenthal pointed out when I mentioned it to him, “Knowing them it may not mean much.”
True, but at a minimum it’s enough to make Laurence Maroney talk a little like Roman Moronie.
[UPDATE: As several of you have pointed out, it’s an “unofficial” depth chart, put together by the staff of Patriots Football Weekly. Still, it’s the closest thing to an official depth chart, especially since: (1) it’s the depth chart that comes up when clicking the link that says “depth chart” on the front page of the Pats’ official web site; (2) the PFW staff are employees of the Patriots; (3) the application of the PFW logo and name to the depth chart is a great way of marketing the PFW product; and (4) if the projected PFW depth chart ended up being grossly wrong the customers who buy PFW might decide to go elsewhere in search of trustworthy information about their favorite team.]