The New England Patriots have added a linebacker to the practice squad and stop me if you’ve heard this before- he went to Rutgers.
Quentin Gause will in fact be a part of the Patriots practice squad. LB out of...yup...Rutgers. Played with Logan Ryan, Duron Harmon.
— Phil Perry (@PhilAPerry) September 7, 2016
Quentin Gause was a two-year starter at linebacker for the Scarlet Knights before signing with the Philadelphia Eagles as an undrafted free agent and making the practice squad. Gause stands at 6’0, 235 pounds and is fairly quick with a 4.73 second 40 yard dash and a 7.01 second three cone time.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is familiar with Rutgers since that’s from where defensive backs Devin McCourty, Logan Ryan, and Duron Harmon, and linebackers Jonathan Freeny and Kevin Snyder (on injured reserve) have matriculated.
The addition of Gause means that someone has to leave the practice squad, and ProJo’s Mark Daniels gave a tentative listing of those in the locker room:
Patriots p-squad
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) September 7, 2016
Quentin Gause
Mike Hilton
Vinnie Sunseri
CBarker
Clay DeBord
GGrissom
Woodrow Hamilton
DLucien
Bishop Sankey
Devin Street
Edge defender Rufus Johnson would appear to be the player no longer on the squad and it’s very possible that some other team poached him for their active roster. There is no shortage of need for capable pass rushers and Johnson is able to contribute.
The status of Johnson, of course, is not certain or final. We’ll await the official update.