Patriots Decide To Waive Promising Rookie ‘Bill Belichick Special’

The New England Patriots started the season with five losses and everything points to the fact that they are ready for a major change. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has already made one decision and did waive rookie Ameer Speed from the roster.

Speed saw action in five games so far as a special teams player, recording three tackles. If he clears waivers, Belichick could add him to the practice unit.

New England has an empty spot and a few players may compete to fill it. Trey Flowers and Jack Jones are two of them.

“This is a Bill Belichick special,” Todd McShay from ESPN said of Speed. “He’s got traits to develop but he’s a darn good special teams player already.”

Patriots waive the rookie for a reason

Speed joined the NFL as a sixth round pick last spring. The 23-year-old was defensive back at Michigan State.

“His pro day is really what has him here and his special teams performance,” McShay said. “Going back to Georgia, he was the co-winner of the special teams most improved player in 2019. He had 518 plays on special teams for the Bulldogs. Bill sees a guy that’s going to contribute on special teams right away and we can develop him. He’s 6-3 and three-eighths of an inch, 209 pounds and if your name’s Speed, you better be fast and he ran a 4.33 40-yard dash.”

QB situation remains unsolved

Belichick is trying different options at quarterback, but he may need a little more time to find the best solution. The Patriots need a strong quarterback option and neither player has provide mind-blowing numbers so far.

“One quarterback takes all the reps and that’s still sometimes not enough for him. He could go longer,” Belichick said this week, via the Patriots’ weekly transcripts. “It’s just, you have to manage the rest of the team. When you start splitting that up with other players, then there’s not enough reps for them either. Quarterback is a position that can – assuming that the quarterback is healthy – they can probably take more reps than any other player on the team and a plethora of reps.”