The New England Patriots made their first roster-clearing move of the offseason on Saturday. The team announced the release of veteran cornerback Lenzy Pipkins.
The 26-year-old out of Louisiana-Monroe and Oklahoma State was the first player the Patriots signed this offseason back on Feb. 11. However, with the Patriots understanding, they will need to get their roster down to 80 soon based on the new agreement between the NFL and NFLPA, the team has already started to cut expendable players.
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Lenzy Pipkins Has Been Released by the Patriots
Pipkins has been through this part of the business before. After spending the 2017 and 2018 seasons with four different teams (Green Bay Packers, Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions, and Cleveland Browns), he was with the Browns when the team went to training camp in 2019 but was released on Aug. 31.
The good news for Pipkins is that the release has come in time for him to potentially land with another NFL team as they head into training camp.
What Does the Patriots’ Secondary Look Like Now?
The Patriots might have the best secondary in football. It is paced by the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore, veteran safety Devin McCourty, the underrated J.C. Jackson, Devin’s twin brother Jason McCourty, and other mainstays like Patrick Chung.
The Patriots also added versatile free agent Adrian Phillips and it drafted the promising Kyle Dugger with its second-round pick. There’s also Jonathan Jones, Joejuan Williams, and D’Angelo Ross.
Because of this, it would appear the team has solid depth at the position.
This is likely why releasing Pipkins was a decision the Patriots felt comfortable making. While there is usually some cap relief that comes along with this kind of release, that’s not the case with this move.
As Patriots cap expert explains, Pipkins wasn’t a part of the team’s Top-51 highest-paid players, so his $750,000 salary wasn’t counting against the team’s cap number.
Since he was not in the Top 51 Lenzy Pipkins release does not change my Patriots salary cap space number of $7,794,739 as his $750K salary was not counting against the cap.
Thus the move doesn’t change the Patriots’ bottom line in this regard.
This was a small ripple on a day that saw the New York Jets send Jamal Adams to the Seattle Seahawks in a blockbuster trade, but it might just be the beginning.
Be on the lookout for other potential moves through the weekend and next week now that all of the financial particulars are in place for the 2020 NFL season.
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Patriots Release Veteran CB Before Training Camp