New England Patriots Release CB Chimdi Chekwa

The New England Patriots have placed another cornerback on the market, this time the recently signed Chimdi Chekwa. Chekwa spent four seasons with the Oakland Raiders as a special teams ace, before signing with the Patriots on March 11th, but was unable to make his way through the shallow depth on the New England roster.

There's not much to say about Chekwa's tenure, but it shows how fluid the Patriots cornerback position is at this point in time. Here's our current projected depth chart (tiers in alphabetical order):

Tier 1: Malcolm Butler, Bradley Fletcher, Logan Ryan

Tier 2: Robert McClain

Tier 3: Justin Green, Jimmy Jean, Eric Patterson, Darryl Roberts, Daxton Swanson

In most seasons, the tier 3 players would spend time on the practice squad, but it currently seems likely that one or two could make the active roster. Chekwa would have been in the third tier.

Look for the Patriots to try and pounce on a free agent cornerback when other teams start trimming their rosters.