PATRIOTS: Former second-round pick Jones among those released

Cutdown day in the NFL sees the Patriots release 26 players, cornerback-return man Cyrus Jones among them.

FOXBORO – On second thought…

For the second time in as many days, the Patriots parted ways with a former second-round draft pick, releasing cornerback-return man Cyrus Jones (lacking a first-round selection in the wake of Deflategate, he was actually their top choice in their 2016 draft class) as they shuffled the deck to get to 52, one under the NFL regular-season roster limit of 53 players, on Saturday.

On Friday, the Patriots virtually gave away Jordan Richards, their second-round pick in 2015, trading the safety-special teamer to the Atlanta Falcons in exchange for a conditional seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft.

All total, 26 players were released by the team on Saturday: defensive lineman John Atkins, punter Corey Bojorquez, running back Brandon Bolden, offensive lineman Luke Bowanko, offensive lineman Cole Croston, quarterback Danny Etling, running back Kenneth Farrow, offensive lineman James Ferentz, linebacker Marquis Flowers, running back Mike Gillislee, defensive lineman Trent Harris, Jones, offensive lineman Jason King, linebacker Harvey Langi, defensive lineman Eric Lee, wide receiver K.J. Maye, wide receiver Riley McCarron, defensive back A.J. Moore, fullback Henry Poggi, offensive lineman Brian Schwenke, offensive lineman Matt Tobin, defensive back Damarius Travis, tight end Will Tye, defensive lineman Vincent Valentine, running back Ralph Webb and cornerback Jomal Wiltz.

Four players were placed on the injured reserve list: wide receiver Braxton Berrios, linebacker Christian Sam, and offensive linemen Ulrick John and Isaiah Wynn.

Wynn (first round) and Berrios and Sam (both sixth round) were all members of this year’s Patriots draft class.

Another member of that draft class, tight end Ryan Izzo (seventh), is expected to be placed on IR today. Carrying Izzo on their original 53 will allow the Patriots to activate him during the regular season.

Speaking of draft classes, the summer of 2018 hasn’t been kind to the Patriots’ Draft Class of 2016. In addition to Jones, it claimed Valentine (a third rounder), wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell (unable to overcome chronic knee problems, the fourth rounder was waived back on Aug. 6) and Devin Lucien (the seventh rounder was waived on Friday). Quarterback Jacoby Brissett (like Valentine, a third rounder; dealt to Indianapolis in exchange for wide receiver Phillip Dorsett last year) and linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill (a sixth rounder, he was waived and claimed by Philadelphia last year) were already gone. Now only guard Joe Thuney (yet another third rounder), linebacker Elandon Roberts (a sixth rounder) and guard-center Ted Karras (also a sixth rounder) remain.

Jones, of course, suffered through two disastrous seasons with the team, a fumble-filled rookie year in the return game leading to his inactivity for the Patriots' run to a Super Bowl LI championship followed by a year on IR after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the 2017 preseason finale with the New York Giants.

Gillislee’s case is one of “what a difference a year makes.”

Signed (to a two-year, $6.4 million contract) as a restricted free agent from Buffalo a year ago, the Bills awarded a fifth-round draft pick in return, Gillislee headed into the 2017 season as the lead back on the-then defending Super Bowl champions. One disappointing year later (Gillislee was inactive for seven of the Patriots' last eight regular-season games and all three of their postseason games), he’s gone.

As for Bolden, who’s been with the Patriots since 2012, this could be a repeat of last year when he was released on Sept. 2, then, after the team made additional roster moves, brought back two days later.

It should be noted that Saturday’s moves actually put the Patriots at 53 players, but wide receiver Julian Edelman’s four-game stint on the league’s suspended list for violating its policy on performance-enhancing substances has begun, thus the official number at the moment is 52.

Although the roster currently shows four wide receivers on it, that number is actually three since Matthew Slater is almost exclusively used on special teams where he's earned Pro Bowl honors seven years in a row. The low number, the result of a series of failures at that position this summer, one that saw Mitchell, Jordan Matthews, Kenny Britt and Eric Decker all released, fuels speculation that something is in the works here.

The cornerback position is noteworthy for it is seven in number - and that number includes a couple of young corners in Keion Crossen and J.C. Jackson - once considered long shots. Crossen was a seventh-round draft pick out of Western Carolina while Jackson was signed as a rookie free agent out of Maryland.

While the situation is fluid (at this point, a waiver claim or claims, a trade or trades and/or a free-agent signing or signings are all in play), Saturday’s moves leave the Patriots’ current roster looking like this:

Quarterback (2) – Tom Brady, Bryan Hoyer

Running back (4) – Rex Burkhead, Jeremy Hill, Sony Michel, James White

Fullback (1) – James Develin

Wide receiver (4) – Phillip Dorsett, Chris Hogan, Cordarrelle Patterson, Matthew Slater

Tight end (4) – Dwayne Allen, Rob Gronkowski, Jacob Hollister, Ryan Izzo

Offensive line (7) – David Andrews, Trent Brown, Marcus Cannon, Ted Karras, Shaq Mason, Joe Thuney, LaAdrian Waddle

Defensive line (10) – Malcom Brown, Adam Butler, Adrian Clayborn, Keionta Davis, Trey Flowers, Geneo Grissom, Lawrence Guy, Derek Rivers, Danny Shelton, Deatrich Wise

Linebacker (6) – Ja’Whaun Bentley, Nicholas Grigsby, Dont'a Hightower, Brandon King, Kyle Van Noy, Elandon Roberts

Cornerback (7) – Keion Crossen, Duke Dawson, Stephon Gilmore, J.C. Jackson, Jonathan Jones, Jason McCourty, Eric Rowe

Safety (4) – Patrick Chung, Nate Ebner, Duron Harmon, Devin McCourty

Specialists (3) – Ryan Allen, Joe Cardona, Stephen Gostkowski