As was expected with the 53-man roster deadline of 6 P.M. EDT Saturday evening, the Patriots had a very busy day. To meet the NFL requirement, New England cut 20 players, including LB Derrick Burgess, oddly enough. They also put safety Brandon McGowan on the injured reserve list, ending his 2010 season.
After releasing DL Damione Lewis and OL Eric Ghiaciuc on Friday, here's a complete list of who was asked to turn in their playbooks on Saturday (via the Patriots official Twitter feed):
WR Sam Aiken
LB Eric Alexander
S Sergio Brown
LB Derrick Burgess
OL George Bussey
TE Carson Butler
RB Thomas Clayton
WR Buddy Farnham
WR Darnell Jenkins
OL Ted Larsen
TE Rob Myers
OL Rich Ohrnberger
WR Rod Owens
QB Zac Robinson
RB Chris Taylor
DB Ross Ventrone
OL Thomas Welch
LB Thomas Williams
CB DeAngelo Willingham
LB Pierre Woods
The biggest surprise obviously is Derrick Burgess, writes Pats Pulpit.
The biggest surprise has got to be the release of defensive end/outside linebacker Derrick Burgess. Burgess had been starting with the 1st team since he returned to the team in mid-August. While he hadn't looked impressive, he still was starting, and after all, he was welcomed back pretty openly after considering retirement at the beginning of training camp. With Burgess as well as Pierre Woods out of the picture, the Patriots have Tully Banta-Cain, Marques Murrell, Ron Ninkovich, and Jermaine Cunningham left at the outside linebacker position. While they seem thin there, rookie Jermaine Cunningham may be ready to come back this week, according to Ian Rapoport.