Patriots waive CB Cre'Von LeBlanc

The Patriots made their first cut of the day by releasing CB Cre'Von LeBlanc. LeBlanc comes as a surprise, especially when considering that most people had him making the 53-man roster. CB Darryl Roberts and Jonathan Jones are still on the roster as of now. The Patriots already have Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, Justin Coleman, and Cyrus Jones as locks to make the roster at the position.

Big surprise here: Cre'Von LeBlanc has been released by the Patriots, per source.

— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) September 3, 2016

Perhaps the reason why the Patriots opted to go in a different direction is that LeBlanc doesn't offer special teams contributions like Jones and Roberts can provide. Roberts didn't stand out too much in the preseason, although he had some nice moments overall. Roberts and Jones offer a bit more speed as a gunner, although they will be using Brandon King and Matthew Slater in that primary capacity. If LeBlanc clears waivers, I would expect him to be on the Patriots practice squad.

UPDATE: Patriots have waived LeBlanc with an injury designation, so if he clears waivers he reverts to injured reserve. LeBlanc suffered a hip injury during practice between the 3rd and 4th preseason games. I'm not sure what the extent of the injury is, but considering that hips are critical to play CB the Patriots are playing cautious.

FWIW, I'm hearing that the #Patriots plan on playing CB Cre'Von LeBlanc on the IR if he clears waivers.

— Doug Moore (@DMooreNFL) September 3, 2016