The Patriots have gotten a head start on roster cut-downs in advance of tomorrow's 4:00 PM ET deadline to have rosters trimmed to 53 players. This afternoon, the team announced the release of eight players:
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots have released eight players today in anticipation of tomorrow's NFL-mandatory cut to the 53-man roster.
The Patriots released veteran LB Ricky Brown, OL Jonathan Compas and DL Darryl Richard; first-year players TE Carson Butler and WR Buddy Farnham and rookie free agents OL Mike Berry, RB Richard Medlin and OL Corey Woods.
None of those players can be seen as a surprise, as all were longer shots to make the Patriots roster. If they can clear waivers, I would expect Darryl Richard, Carson Butler, Buddy Farnham, to all be added to the team's practice squad. Corey Woods and Richard Medlin will likely also receive some practice squad consideration.
The Patriots' active roster now stands at 72 players. They still have plenty of work to do to trim down their roster in the next 24 hours.