Patriots Trade For Kiner, Release Haskins On Cutdown Day
New England swapped a seventh-round pick for a running back and cut five players in one Saturday, all ahead of Sunday's 53-man deadline.
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The Patriots spent Saturday doing the unglamorous math of turning 91 players into 53, and the headline move was a trade: Arizona sent running back Corey Kiner to New England for a 2028 seventh-round pick, Adam Schefter of ESPN reports. Kiner is a 24-year-old, 5-foot-9, 210-pound back out of Cincinnati who carried it 12 times for 58 yards for the Cardinals last season — a cheap, low-risk add that instantly slots him in behind Rhamondre Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson as the club's third back.
The corresponding move told the story: Mike Reiss of ESPN.com reports the Patriots have informed RB Hassan Haskins of his release, clearing the roster spot Kiner just filled. The releases didn't stop there. TE C.J. Dippre, WR Kyle Dixon and CB Brandon Crossley were all informed of their plans to be let go, per Reiss, and OLB Amari Gainer posted his own thanks to the organization after getting the word. Dixon's exit stings a little given he'd just caught eight passes for 71 yards in Thursday's preseason finale, but Reiss notes he's a good bet to clear waivers and land back on the practice squad.
None of it is a surprise given what Mike Vrabel has been saying about this roster for two weeks. "I do not think we have a very deep team, so I think we have to make sure that we are preparing our football team and that we are doing everything that we can to keep our best players available," Vrabel said ahead of the preseason finale — which is exactly the posture that turns a depth chart into a trade for a warm body at running back rather than a training-camp battle.
Last time out: the backups got run over in Cleveland
New England closed its preseason slate on August 28 with a 13-37 loss at Cleveland, and the preseason record sits at 1-1-1 — a mark that says nothing about the actual team, since Drake Maye, A.J. Brown, Rhamondre Stevenson and Romeo Doubs all sat out. Evan Lazar of the Patriots' official site confirmed Brown's scratch, and with the whole projected starting group in street clothes, the game turned into a straight evaluation of the roster's back end.
Browns13-37
Eagles24-21
Colts13-13Behren Morton got the start in Maye's place and went 18-for-28 for 123 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns, adding 18 yards on two scrambles — a rough final line, but Morton had already made his case a week earlier with a game-winning drive against the Eagles on August 22, so one bad exhibition night isn't the story it would be for the starter. The clean bright spot was rookie receiver Kyle Williams, who turned two targets into two catches for 55 yards and a touchdown. Lan Larison, working through an undisclosed issue, was quieter: two carries for five yards and no catches on his two targets.
The Gonzalez standoff now has a Week 1 wrinkle
With the opener nine days away, Christian Gonzalez and the Patriots remain unresolved on a long-term deal — Adam Schefter reported this week that the two sides "aren't anywhere close" to an agreement, a gap that hasn't budged since Seattle's Devon Witherspoon reset the cornerback market at four years and $132 million. Robert Kraft said back in July that the team had offered Gonzalez a deal that would make him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history, but Schefter says the Patriots "haven't gone there" to match Witherspoon's new number.
Report: Patriots, Christian Gonzalez aren’t anywhere close to a deal. t.co/lAGW1cRwYT
The wrinkle: Gonzalez and Witherspoon share the same agency, Win Sports Group, which makes it unlikely New England signs Gonzalez to anything short of Witherspoon's deal — and Witherspoon is exactly who lines up across from the Patriots' offense in the opener. Gonzalez, still playing on a rookie deal that pays him $4.8 million this year, has kept the numbers private but not the frustration. "It's frustrating, but I'm focused on the season. I'm focused on here now," he said. Schefter expects one more real push from both sides before or right at kickoff — which means this storyline and the Seattle trip are now tangled together.
The opener is a Super Bowl LX rematch, and Seattle isn't the same team that won it
The Patriots open the season Wednesday night in Seattle against the club that beat them 29-13 in Super Bowl LX back in February — a banner-raising night at Lumen Field for the defending champions. But the Seahawks aren't running it back untouched: offensive architect Klint Kubiak left to become the Raiders' head coach, and Brian Fleury, a 49ers assistant who has never called a play in the NFL, inherits the unit that just won a title. Seattle enters at 0-2-1 in the preseason, having lost 9-9 at the Chiefs in its last tune-up, and the defense that terrorized people last year is thinner too, with Boye Mafe, Coby Bryant and Riq Woolen all gone.
The other subplot is at running back: Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III now plays for Kansas City, and rookie Jadarian Price is projected to step in for him. New England, for its part, spent the offseason answering questions with additions — trading for A.J. Brown, cutting Stefon Diggs and signing Romeo Doubs — and now walks into Lumen Field as the underdog, with the line opened at Seahawks -3.5 and the total set at 44.5. It's an odd building block for an opener: a rematch of the biggest loss in franchise memory, against a team that changed more of its formula than the scoreboard from February would suggest.