Patriots release Donald Brown, E.J. Biggers, Frank Kearse

Posted by Josh Alper on August 23, 2016, 10:55 AM EDT
Getty Images

The Patriots cut three players on Monday and they dispatched three more on Tuesday to drop their roster to 74 players ahead of this week’s third preseason game.

According to multiple reports, the three players sent packing are running back Donald Brown, cornerback E.J. Biggers and defensive tackle Frank Kearse. All three players were signed as free agents this offseason.

Brown underwhelmed with the Chargers over the last two seasons and wasn’t able to practice for the last few weeks due to an undisclosed injury. The Patriots running back group now features LeGarrette Blount, James White, Brandon Bolden, Tyler Gaffney, James Develin, Joey Iosefa and the injured Dion Lewis.

Biggers has been a regular for the Buccaneers, Redskins and Eagles over the last three seasons, but was behind younger corners in the battle for roster spots in the Patriots secondary. Kearse also found himself looking up at several other defensive tackles at what’s shaping up to be a deep position for the Pats in 2016.

Permalink 11 Comments Feed for comments Back to top

11 responses to “Patriots release Donald Brown, E.J. Biggers, Frank Kearse”

  2. If Gaffney can somehow emerge, he is the guy that Brown was supposed to be.

    But, the Pats are loaded, and no harm/no foul with these vets as camp competition for the younger guys anyway.

    Nate Washington will possibly be the next camp vet invite to go.

    Pats are loaded at WR as well.

  3. About 7 days away from needing to get 90 players down to 75. Creating room for possible trades and filling holes from preseason injuries. You’ll see a lot of teams doing this. You’ll also see teams keeping an eye on talent being dropped from other teams.

  5. This is why NE has a leg up every season. Why hold onto people an extra week that you know will not make the team. Now they can concentrate on what they have left. We can knock NE all we want but they always seem to be a step ahead of everyone else

  6. The funny thing is when you the other 31 teams release players it’ll likely cross your mind…”Wonder if that was a good choice? Did they lose a diamond in the rough? – guess we’ll see if the guy gets on another team, they might have lost a stud!”.

    But with Belichick; the only thing that crosses your mind is “Welp, he’s a dud”.

    -Steelers fan.

  8. These early drops are a kindness to the players. “You’re a pretty good vet, but we can’t use you, so here is a week or two to latch on with another team” BB is a … but this is one area where he is very kind.

  9. I am not a fan of the Patriots running game. Jimmy G will be throwing the ball 35 times a game, just like Brady. Luckily, he’ll have Bennett and Hogan to go along with Gronk, Edelman, Amendola, and Mitchell.

  10. Pats probably have one of the worst RB depth charts in the league, but it never seems to really hurt them. They’ve been in the top 4 in scoring 6 yrs in a row, despite featuring guys like Blount and Green-Ellis. The Oline should be better with the return of Solder and Scar, drafting Thuney and their young guys having another yr under their belt. Never liked the DBrown signing anyway. I do think they need to pick up an OT somehow. I don’t know what they see in MCannon or CFleming. Funny feeling they may go downfield more with Garappolo, whose probably a better deep thrower than Brady, to open things up. Pretty good shape at WR, especially if DAmendola is ok.

  11. “I am not a fan of the Patriots running game. Jimmy G will be throwing the ball 35 times a game, just like Brady. Luckily, he’ll have Bennett and Hogan to go along with Gronk, Edelman, Amendola, and Mitcz”

    Some amount of the short passes, the screens and outs to the flat are just replacements for running plays in the Pats system.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to leave a comment. Not a member? Register now!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.