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Stacey James, New England Patriots Executive Director of Media Relations: I can give you
transactions first, and then we will be joined by the coach. We signed two
players today. Kory Chapman, running back from Jacksonville State. He was
signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent this year. We also
re-signed Jim Miller. The players released today, there are nine,
alphabetically are Michael Cloud, Scott Farley, Lawrence Flugence, Joel
Jacobs, Dwight Johnson, Kliff Kingsbury, Earthwind Moreland, Jamil Soriano
and Grant Steen.
Bill Belichick: Well, we went through the tape and everybody got the transactions that
we made today. We still have a few to go, especially with adding two players
today, so that will be part of what we are dealing with here over the next
couple of days. But hopefully when we come back in here on Sunday we can
treat that like a regular Wednesday and get into our Indianapolis
preparation. I don't have too much to add on the game last night other than,
I think there were a couple players, probably more than a couple, a handful
of players that I thought really helped themselves last night. How that will
all play out, I'm not really sure, but I thought some guys really did a
pretty good job and it will make it a little bit tougher here in the next
day or so, how we want to try to comprise the team moving forward. We will
try to get the roster settled and at the same time, we have to be well
prepared for the team when they come back on Sunday for the Indianapolis
preparations. That is where we are.
Q: The re-signing of Jim Miller is a little bit unusual since you just
released him several days ago. Can you explain that a little bit?
BB: I said that I thought he might be ready to practice by the end of the
week. He practiced today. He wasn't going to play in the game, and it
enabled us to play somebody else, so I guess that would be my explanation.
Q: Was Justin Kurpeikis one of the players who helped himself?
BB: Well, I don't want to get into a lot of specifics. We'll see how
everything turns out. I think Justin has had a good camp all the way
through. He has gotten a lot of playing time. He was with us for just a
short time last year, but he has been here in the offseason program. He
didn't play with us last year a lot, he's a fairly experienced guy in the
league and he put in a lot of time in the offseason, picked up the system
pretty well, and I think he has had a good camp.
Q: Is there any word on Troy Brown yet?
BB: No, I don't have any updates. I'm not sure when that injury report is
due out this week, but whenever it is, we'll get it to you. But he is
getting better. I talked to him this morning, and he is definitely coming
along. I know he is anxious for the game, like we all are.
Q: What did you not see from Michael Cloud that you were hoping to?
BB: Well, I think it is one of those situations where Mike has a lot of
positives. Mike has worked hard. I think that this gives him an opportunity
by doing it a little earlier now, because he is a veteran that we will
terminate and be free and give him an opportunity to look into some other
options if there are any. I think he deserves that. He has been a
hard-working, tough kid who has really given us his best. At this point we
just don't have a spot for him. That could change, I'm not closing the door
on anything here. That could definitely change. But, in the mean time, I
think in fairness to him, he deserves the opportunity to see what the other
options are at this point for him.
Q: Kory Chapman is a running back from Jacksonville State?
BB: Jacksonville State, yes. He was with Baltimore in the preseason, that's
right.
Q: What does he bring to the table?
BB: Right, well we are just trying to spend a little time with him and get
to know him a little here and see what that looks like. We saw him in the
preseason games with Baltimore and saw, obviously, a few things we like, so
we will just take it from there.
Q: How does the team talent-wise and attitude-wise compare to the team
coming off of the 2001 Super Bowl?
BB: I think where the team is now, is we are all in a certain degree of
flux. Our final roster isn't set. When you get ready for opening day, that
is always kind of an unpredictable time because teams have had the whole
offseason to do whatever they want to do to prepare for you and vice versa.
There are a lot of moving parts at this time of year, personnel-wise,
team-wise, and there are a lot of things that we have been working on
through the preseason and training camp. Some look better than others, and I
am not sure if anybody at this point is really sure what their team is going
to execute the best or where they are in some of those stages just because
you haven't seen the real, regular-season competition. So, where we are, I
don't really know. We are certainly ahead of where we were two weeks ago in
Cincinnati, but we have a long way to go. It is a tough question to answer
right now because we aren't really in the reflection business, you know,
'How did it go in camp'. We are more trying to take stock of where we are
and make the most of it this week in terms of preparing for the Colts. That
is really most of where our focus is, is how do we best move ahead from
here, not recapping the last five weeks.
Q: Would you characterize Kevin Faulk's injury as not serious?
BB: No, I can't really characterize it. I would say he is day-to-day. That
is probably the best description I could give, he is day-to-day. I spoke
with him yesterday. He is doing better. We haven't really pushed it because
it wasn't in the plans for him to play last night. So we'll start getting a
little better assessment of where he is relative to this game, and when we
need to make a determination on that, then we will make one. But, in the
mean time, we are just trying to move it along.
Q: Do you have to do some work on contracts, and will that play a part in
your roster decisions?
BB: It is hard to say because some of it would depend on how the decision
went. In other words, that is a possibility, I'm not saying that, but it may
work itself out so that it isn't a problem. That would just depend on what
the final roster is. There are a couple decisions and a couple other things
in the works that just haven't been solidified yet. Just as a point though,
that doesn't have to be completed until Wednesday or the day before the
game, so regardless of what the cap situation is today, tomorrow or the next
day, it could still work itself out. We have until Wednesday to work it out,
as does everybody else. I understand what you are asking. Could it? Yes.
Will it? I'm not sure. There is a little bit of play here, in terms of
timing, even if that were the case. In the end, we'll put all that together
and see how much of a factor it is or isn't.
Q: With [Jim] Miller coming off the shoulder surgery, would you be
tempted by a Doug Flutie or somebody like that who doesn't make a final
roster?
BB: Well, first of all, we always evaluate every player that is available,
every player that is released and make some type of determination as to
where that player fits with us. Either not at all, or maybe at a later point
in time, or something that we would be interested in doing sooner rather
than later. So, it all depends on the player. But, procedurally, we do that
with everybody. Who are those players going to be? I don't know, and I
certainly wouldn't try to speculate on it. Our personnel people, at this
time of year, what they do is go through all of the rosters and try to look
at guys and anticipate who may or may not be available. But, in the end,
that is very unscientific and things change. Just like we are trying to make
decisions, everybody else is too, and a lot of those won't be settled until
the last minute. So, we'll try to improve every position on our team if we
can, or evaluate the opportunity to do it, but there is nobody at this point
that is available that I would say we are targeting or we are negotiating
with or anything like that.
Q: Is Kliff Kingsbury still eligible for the practice squad since he was
on injured reserve?
BB: He is. Kliff is eligible for the practice squad, and, at this point, we
just felt like there were other people ahead of him and I respect Kliff. I
think he has worked very hard, he has a great attitude and I think has
really been an asset to our program in the role that he had. But,
unfortunately, at this point we just can't carry him on the 53-man roster.
He is practice squad eligible and that could be a consideration.
Q: Are you pleased overall with the way preseason went?
BB: Well, we have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of challenges ahead of
us. That is really where our focus is. Some things were better than others,
and I think we are further ahead at some points than we are at other points
on our team, so where we are behind we have to pull it up, and even some of
the things that may look okay, until they are okay in the regular season,
that will still be a question mark. So, our [emphasis] is moving forward and
trying to improve the team and, whether we feel good about where we are or
not right now really doesn't make a difference. It is going to be about how
we perform and how we can improve on a going-forward basis.
Q: Did Cedric Cobbs dress last night and is he closer to practicing?
BB: Yes, he is closer to practicing. No, he didn't dress. He is still on PUP
and if they are on PUP they are not eligible to play.
Q: With P.K. Sam dressing last night, was not dressing him for the game
and keeping him on the PUP a consideration at all?
BB: P.K. has never been on PUP, and he is not eligible to be on PUP, so that
is not an option with him. Once a player starts practicing, he can't be on
the PUP list, so when P.K. passed his physical and began practicing like 90
percent of the other players did, there is no PUP option for those players.
Now when training camp starts and a player can't practice at that point, as
in Jim Miller's case, then he can go on PUP. But, once they are out there
you can't move them to PUP. It is just not an option.
Q: After the moves today, how many players do you have to cut to get down
to 53 by Sunday?
BB: We released nine, signed two, so that is a net of seven. At this point
we would have to have some type of transaction with 14 players. That could
be a combination of a lot of different things, but 14 players, we would have
to do something with them in one way or another.
Q: Are you in trade talks with any teams?
BB: I wouldn't say we are involved in any trade talks. We talk to teams
about personnel and guys they might be interested in or guys they might be
interested in moving if the situation was right or if it was the right type
of deal. Basically there are two types of conversations. One is, if you are
going to release a player and you know he is not going to be on your roster,
then obviously if you can get anything for the guy, that is probably better
than releasing him. The other situation is where you would keep the player
on your roster, but if somebody offered you enough you might trade him if
you felt like the value was high enough. And if a team wants to keep a guy
on their roster, they don't have to trade him and they probably don't want
to trade him, but at some point there is a price that they, well they would
with some players, other players they probably wouldn't trade at all. And
that is where it is. And it is a little bit like draft day. There is a lot
of jockeying going on and who you think is going to be released, and who do
you think is legitimately going to make the other team's roster, and who is
going to be on the wire or are you actually going to have to trade to get
him. And, in our case, since we are the last claiming team, virtually every
other team in the league would have to pass on a player before we would be
able to get him on a waiver claim. So, if we think anybody else would claim
him, then we wouldn't be able to get a player unless we traded for him. All
those things are obvious, but that is kind of the nature of it all. Are we
engaged in trade talks today at this point? Not that I am aware of. And that
could change in 10 minutes, as soon as I return a couple calls and I don't
know what is on the other end of the line. It could be about that, or it
could not be about that at all. Again, it is kind of like that day or two
before the draft or even draft day. There are a lot of names floating around
out there. |
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