The New England Patriots may have gotten an early start on their roster reduction process, but they still have a long way to go. Heading into Tuesday’s cutdown day, they still need to make 23 transactions to get below the NFL-mandated 53-man roster limit.
The team will be quite busy over the coming hours, and anxiety in the building high before the 4 p.m. ET deadline. Even those whose spots on the team are secure are deeply invested in the developments, as veterans Carlton Davis and Drake Maye explained after Monday’s practice.
“It’s a heartbreaker. It’s the worst day of the year,” said Davis. “You get to just see guys who you put in work with and you grinded with and you kind of formed a bond with, and now they’re just gone; gone with the wind. It’s a tough day. It’s the hardest part of this league, but it is what it is.”
A second-round draft pick in 2018, Davis has never truly been in danger of getting cut in his career. He was a starter from his rookie season on and retained that position even after getting traded from Tampa to Detroit in 2024. Now in New England, he again will play a valuable role on the defense and go through cutdown day with his spot on the team in no danger of being taken away.
Unsurprisingly, he has adopted a “business as usual” approach to roster reduction day.
“I’ve been in the league a long time, so I’ve seen this so many times that I guess I’m kind of like used to it,” he said. “It’s just like a normal kind of thing where you understand that there are so many guys who’ve come out here and worked hard but we can only have 53. The guys who really deserve to be somewhere will land on somebody else’s team.”
Maye also knows the nervousness of cutdown day from an observer’s perspective. The third overall pick in last year’s draft, he is locked into the Patriots’ starting quarterback job and one of the true locks on the roster.
The first cutdown day he experienced last August still left an impression on the 22-year-old.
“It’s always a tough day. I really got to experience it one time last year with the guys around the locker room,” he explained. “Obviously, you hear about it. There are so many guys out here that worked their butts off that are kind of fighting and crawling to make the team. Obviously, it’s unfortunate for them and unfortunate for us who built a relationship with them.
“I remember the rookies, I felt like all those guys were with me in training camp and coming out of rookie minicamp, and the next thing you know — like that — we got down to 10 or 12 rookies in the locker room from 30. It was tough for me to realize that’s the nature of the business.”
For head coach Mike Vrabel, himself a player for 14 years, the primary objective next to getting below the roster limit is handling the transactions in a professional manner.
“I’ve been through a lot of these things,” he said on Monday. “We try to do them as respectfully and professionally as we possibly can.”
As opposed to their coach, neither Maye nor Davis play any active role in the Patriots’ decision making. Nonetheless, both are trying their best to be supportive of their teammates before and after the dreaded deadline arrives.
“Some of the guys who maybe feel like they’re on the bubble, or some of the guys who aren’t getting as many reps, they start to get a little anxious,” Davis explained. “I’ve been a part of this league for a minute, and I’ve seen it so many times that I just try to encourage them to just control what they can control and just let God handle the rest.”
“Just pump those guys up,” added Maye about those who did not make it onto the team. “You never know. You may see them again. You see [JaMycal] Hasty back out here and guys like that. So, you never know. The relationship’s never over, and for those guys, just another step in the journey and try to stay in touch with them.”
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