Report: Patriots Waiving O-Lineman With Ben Watson Returning

Ben Watson is back in the fold now, and the New England Patriots needed to make room for him. The team waived Caleb Benenoch as confirmed by NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo.

The Pats signed Benenoch right after placing left tackle Isaiah Wynn on injured reserve Sept. 7. The offensive lineman didn’t play for the team, and he sat out the wins over the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills. He spent four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was a starting guard in 2018.

The team has enough room for Watson. He was suspended for the first four contests of the season. The team received roster exemption for him, so they aren’t obliged to add him to the roster until Saturday. There’s enough room and time for other moves.

Watson knows how Tom Brady leads the game, and he is well aware of the power New England has.

“I would say I just grew tremendously,” he said. “It’s amazing how much you can grow as a player when you have the right coach, the right system, the right offensive coordinator, but also the right quarterback. Certain quarterbacks — really there is a certain gene in a lot of quarterbacks that makes them compete and makes them want to perfect their craft with other players. With Tom and with Drew, if it’s staying after practice and running extra routes, if they’re on a pitch count and they say “Bump the pitch count, I’ve got to get this right with my guys,” they’ll do that. It’s in the meeting rooms, when you’re running a route in a meeting room and we’re watching it on film, and they’d like you to break it a little bit earlier. Even if in the textbook it says to break it at five yards, and they say, ‘You know what, I need you to break it here and I’ll be ready to throw you the ball.’ It’s them vocalizing that. As a player receiving that, it helps you to grow as a player, and in your relationship with them.

“That’s what those guys do and it benefits them because they’ve been in the same offense for a long time — so they kind of have their own spin on it — but they also know how to communicate and coach the players that they’re going to be playing with from year to year, because that always changes.”