Patriots: Bill Belichick cuts another 9 players after opting against split squads

The New England Patriots released another nine players after Lenzy Pipkins.

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is wasting no time in trimming down the team’s roster. We learned on Saturday that cornerback Lenzy Pipkins was shown the door, but nine others joined him on Sunday.

The Patriots cut ties with 10 players this weekend thanks to the new regulations brought forth because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to ProFootballTalk, “the agreement forged by the NFL and NFLPA last week altered the size of rosters in training camp. Teams may keep 90 players until August 16 if they work in split squads, but must drop to that limit earlier if they don’t plan to work in multiple locations.”

As a result, Belichick has opted against the 90-man roster and split-squad option, which gave him the opportunity to let go of some guys earlier than usual.

Given the Patriots QB room with Cam Newton, Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer, seeing J’Mar Smith and Brian Lewerke go is no surprise. The same can be said with safeties Malik Gant and Adarius Pickett, both of whom are behind the McCourty brothers, Kyle Duggar and Adrian Phillips on the depth chart.

A few wideouts getting the boot considering Julian Edelman, Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry, Jakobi Meyers, Marqise Lee and others will be competing for reps isn’t unusual either.

This all just seems like Belichick made these expected moves earlier than usual because many of these guys are unrecognizable and were stuck behind loaded parts of the depth chart.

The Patriots will enter camp with 80 players, but everyone will have to test negative for COVID-19 twice this week before being allowed at the team facility next weekend. Once that’s settled, we’ll get to see some strength and conditioning drills, as well as equipment-less practices.