There's a lot to be stoked about, dontcha think? Belichick has so far done a masterful job of balancing the workload during training. But what would you expect of the best NFL coach of the past decade? Genius has become a hallmark, it's that simple. The bar has been set incredibly high from the start. While it might be taxing on all players and Belichick could run the risk of wearing out his players, the cream will rise to the top.
It is ridiculously early to begin predicting the final 53 man roster. Insanely early, if you ask me. But that won't stop The Boston Globe's Mike Reiss from taking a shot at it. Nor will it stop me from analyzing what he has to say. ;-)
Looking down the list, I thought I could find some rhyme or reason as to the order of players in each category, but I was stymied. Tom Brady, Kevin O'Connell, Andrew Walter - Hah!! Alphabetical order! But then there's Chris Baker, Ben Watson, David Thomas, and Alex Smith. How about starting order? Yeah, that's the ticket! Oh, running backs: Kevin Faulk, Fred Taylor, Sammy Morris, Laurence Maroney, and BenJarvus Green-Ellis. There goes that theory. Anyway, enough fussing over the order of positional listing.
Commentors for this Reiss's Pieces blog post were saying Mike was a bit off when he said BenJarvus Green-Ellis should stay at the expense of another offensive lineman. I won't necessarily address that, but I WOULD say keeping BJGE is a smart move. Why? He showed some skills last year. Remember 2008, when the backfield was decimated enough to have Law Firm as one of our primary backs and Kevin Faulk running something other than third downs? Yeah, we were hurtin'. And the young dude was there. Is he the future of this franchise's backfield? I don't know if I can answer that question, but I DO know he did a darn good job for us.
Other than that, Mike's analysis seems pretty solid at this point. Russ Hochstein is a keeper, in my mind. Heck, the dude can not only play offensive line, but he can do a fair job at fullback. Belichick loves versatility and this doesn't hurt. WR-wise, one could make a case for Joey Galloway not making the cut, but let's give him a chance; it's pretty hard to walk onto a high-powered aerial assault like this and make a name for yourself. Julian Edelman? C'mon, the dude would have to have a core meltdown to goof up his spot.
Looking at Reiss's roster list gets me all fired up. Wow, that looks good.