The Patriots have some difficult decisions to make en route to a league maximum of 53 players by Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline.
As mentioned in previous projections, New England only has a handful of open roster spots up for grabs after accounting for roster locks and positional minimums. With a defense returning ten of its 11 starters from a year ago and an offense with a clear veteran core around starting quarterback Mac Jones, the numbers crunch is challenging for many roster hopefuls.
Heading into cutdown day, we estimate that the Patriots have 36 roster locks: Mac Jones, Bailey Zappe, Rhamondre Stevenson, Ezekiel Elliott, JuJu Smith-Schuster, DeVante Parker, Kendrick Bourne, Tyquan Thornton, Hunter Henry, Mike Gesicki, Trent Brown, Cole Strange, David Andrews, Mike Onwenu, Riley Reiff, Davon Godchaux, Deatrich Wise, Christian Barmore, Keion White, Lawrence Guy, Matthew Judon, Josh Uche, Ja'Whaun Bentley, Jahlani Tavai, Marte Mapu, Chris Board, Christian Gonzalez, Jonathan Jones, Marcus Jones, Jack Jones (pending off-field), Kyle Dugger, Adrian Phillips, Jabrill Peppers, Jalen Mills, Joe Cardona, and Matthew Slater.