Holiday or no, the Patriots continued their roster-tweaking Monday, cutting veteran wide receiver Greg Lewis, signing rookie defensive back Bret Lockett and officially adding seven players to their practice squad.
The biggest move was the release of Lewis. Acquired by the Patriots on March 5 along with a seventh-round pick from Philadelphia for a fifth-round pick in the 2009 draft, it was expected he would be in the mix for the No. 3 receiver position if he could come close to replicating his career-best numbers from 2005: 48 receptions for 561 yards.
And early on, things looked good for Lewis, the self-proclaimed funniest guy in the New England locker room. One of the running jokes in Patriots’ training camp involved Bill Belichick’s apparent man-crush on the wide receiver -- the Patriots coach had apparently coveted Lewis for an awful long time, having tried and failed on a number of occasions to pry away the receiver from Andy Reid and the Eagles.
“We knew a lot about Greg coming out [of college]; he came out the same year as [ex-Pats safety] Eugene Wilson and there were a number of other receivers at Illinois that year. So I always kind of had an interest in him,” Belichick said last month.
“That was kind of an annual conversation -- maybe more than annual -- that I had with Andy. We’ve discussed Greg Lewis and trade situations for, I’d say, probably at least the last three years, maybe longer.”
The feelings were mutual.
“I thought Coach Belichick was a tough guy, real stringent, army-like and all of that, but being here and being around him, really he's just passionate about football and he wants to get the best out of his players,” Lewis said after a couple of days in camp.
“He doesn't take any nonsense, but like Fred [Taylor] said, he is willing to work with you and get to know you and you can get to know him. He's a good coach to play for.”
But for whatever reason, it didn’t happen for Lewis in New England. The 29-year-old, a veteran of six NFL seasons -- all of them with the Eagles -- finished the preseason with three catches for 58 yards, with his finest moment coming in the preseason finale when he made a great 32-yard catch before getting blasted by a Giants’ defensive back and holding onto the ball.
The move will mean more opportunities in the offense for receivers Joey Galloway, Sam Aiken and rookie Julian Edelman, with Galloway likely the top choice to move into the role of No. 3 receiver behind Randy Moss and Wes Welker.
With the extra roster spot, the Patriots signed rookie defensive back Bret Lockett, a 6-foot-1, 211-pound product of UCLA. Lockett originally joined the Cleveland Browns as a rookie free agent out of UCLA on May 4.
During his collegiate career, he played in 48 of a possible 50 games. As a senior, Lockett started all 11 games and totaled 61 tackles. Cleveland coach Eric Mangini was complimentary of Lockett after announcing his release, saying he “showed good improvement throughout the camp.”
As for the practice squad, the Patriots officially announced seven of the eight players a team is allowed to carry on the practice squad. The first three were easy: defensive lineman Titus Adams, wide receiver Terrence Nunn and defensive lineman Darryl Richard all went to training camp with New England, and were released on Saturday when the Patriots finalized their 53-man roster.
Meanwhile, offensive tackle Patrick Brown (Carolina), defensive tackle Adrian Grady (Indianapolis), quarterback/wide receiver Isaiah Stanback (Dallas) and cornerback DeAngelo Willingham (Dallas) were all acquired when they were cut loose by other teams on Saturday.
In the group of newcomers, Stanback is the only non-rookie. He spent the last two seasons with Dallas after joining the team as a fourth-round draft pick out of Washington in 2007. He played quarterback in college but was converted to a wide receiver and kickoff returner by Dallas. Stanback played in two games in 2007 and eight games last season before ending the 2008 season on injured reserve with a shoulder injury. His NFL totals include two receptions for 24 yards and 13 kickoff returns for 296 yards.
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