The New England Patriots claimed LB A.J. Edds (rhymes with “weeds”) off of waivers from their Week 1 opponent the Miami Dolphins.

Miami drafted Edds, who played at Iowa in 2010 in the 4th round; he was placed on the season ending IR when he suffered an ACL injury in training camp.

Miami waived him on Monday.

Edds is expected to contribute right away especially in third down situations.

As of now there has been no corresponding roster move.

UPDATE 9/7: The corresponding roster move has been announced as the Patriots have released defensive tackle Gerard Warren. If he’s not signed or picked up by another team, he could possibly return to the Pats after week one.

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The New England Patriots made a pair of roster moves today.  First they signed a second Gronkowski, when they inked TE Dan Gronkowski, the brother of Rob, who was let go by Denver this past weekend.

The Detroit Lions, originally drafted Gronkowski, in 2009 in the 7^th round out of Maryland, before being traded prior to last season to the Denver Broncos.  In 2009 with Detroit he spent most of the season on the practice squad before being elevated to the 53-man roster only to be waived and re-signed to the practice squad.  The Lions then signed him to future reserve contract after the season and last year in training camp traded him to Denver for Tom Brady’s “friend” CB Alphonso Smith.

Known as more of a blocking tight end he has 9 career catches for 69 yards and no TD’s.

The Gronkowski’s have a third brother Chris who plays in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts as a running back.

In order to make room for Gronkowski on the roster the Patriots released CB Darius Butler.  New England drafted Butler, who played his college ball at UConn, in 2009 in the 2^nd round, 41^st overall.

Butler in his time at UConn he started 43 of 45 games, recording 180 tackles, and 10 INT’s, two of which were returned for TD’s.  He was All-Big East 1^st Team in 2008.

He became the first player in Big East history to produce a touchdown on a kickoff return, interception, reception and rushing attempt.

With New England he had 58 tackles and three INT’s and 14 pass deflections in two seasons.

Butler said, “It was best for both parties. I’m not surprised by it.  Things weren’t working out with me and the team.”  He went on to add that “I’m ready for a fresh start, a fresh place, a fresh everything.  I thank Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick for giving me (the) opportunity.”

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Well it was an eventful weekend in Foxboro and around the NFL as all the teams had to have their 53-man rosters set by 6 p.m. on Saturday.  The Patriots did that with their original roster of 53, that lasted all of a few hours.

The reason for that was they signed two players and then had to release two and all this was after spending most of the day Friday and Saturday trying to determine who the last 19 or so players who were going to get released.

Then Sunday was spent reviewing the waiver wire and trying to put together a practice squad.

But they weren’t done and late Sunday night they signed former Green Bay OL Nick McDonald to the practice squad.

On Monday morning they filled out their practice squad roster with a couple other additions.

Here is the video of Bill Belichick’s Monday press conference with the local Boston media.  He talks about Brandon Meriweather, Josh Barrett, Brian Waters and putting together a practice squad and more.  Transcript Only.

DT Vince Wilfork is excited for 2011 and looking forward to a great season.

Audio of the Monday locker room interview with TE Aaron Hernandez.

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With several new players coming in and others leaving the old uniform number shuffle took place on Monday.

New RG Brian Waters is planning on starting in Miami.

Former Kansas City head coach Herm Edwards coached Waters for three seasons and he says this is a really good move for New England.

The Kansas City Chiefs claimed OL Steve Maneri, who was the odd man out when the Patriots signed Waters, off waivers.  So the Belichick-Pioli pipeline continues.

For those wondering why Ochocinco and others may have some difficulty learning the Patriots system here’s a good look at why.

Health will be the key at tight end with only two on the roster.

Here are some unique notes on the Patriots players I found when looking up their hometowns.

• The Patriots have three foreign-born players Zoltan Mesko (Romania) Sebastian Vollmer (Germany) and Patrick Chung (Jamaica).

• When searching Zoltan Mesko on Wikipedia the first thing that comes up is a Romanian Nazi of the same name.

• The team has two players, Devin McCourty and Rob Gronkowski, with siblings playing in the NFL.  If Jerod Mayo’s brother hadn’t been cut they’d have had three.

• Three players are sons of former NFL players.  Matthew Slater’s dad Jackie was a Hall of Fame lineman with the Los Angeles Rams and Andre Carter’s dad Rubin played in Denver as part of the Bronco’s “Orange Crush” defense.  Practice Squad WR Kerry Taylor’s father, Keith, played 10 NFL seasons and his uncle is former San Francisco 49ers WR John Taylor.

• The team has two native New Englanders in Aaron Hernandez (Bristol, CT) and James Ihedigbo (Northampton MA).

• Counting eight practice squad players the team has players from 28 states and 4 countries.

• The Patriots have the most players from California with 8; followed by Ohio with 6; and Georgia and Florida with 4 each.

• The school most represented on the Patriots roster is Florida with four players, while Tennessee has three. Virginia, California, Fresno State, Michigan, Arizona State and Purdue all have two.

• LB Tracy White and former UConn women’s basketball player and current WNBA player Kalana Greene share the same hometown of St. Stephen, SC.

• For Libby Crews, a friend of Sox & Dawgs, the Patriots have one player from Mississippi State (Kyle Love), one from Ole Miss (BenJarvus Green-Ellis) and two Mississippi natives, Stevan Ridley is from Natchez, MS and Stephen Gostkowski is from Madison, MS, on the roster.

• 14 players from the SEC; 10 from PAC 12 schools; 6 players are from Big Ten schools; 5 from ACC schools; 4 from the Big East; 1 from Big 12 schools; 1 Independent and 20 from non BCS conference schools (schools as slotted in their current conferences).

Authors Note: With the Labor Day holiday on Monday Tom Brady’s “Patriots Monday” appearance on WEEI-AM 850 in Boston was pushed back to Tuesday morning so it wasn’t included in this week’s “In The Red Zone”.

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Earlier Monday morning the New England Patriots filled out the remaining slots on their 8-man practice squad, there was also one change in the squad and I’m not sure why.  It was reported Sunday by the Boston media that Alex Silvestro was at Gillette Stadium with the others to sign their practice squad contracts but when Bill Belichick released the names this morning the former Rutgers players was not among them.

So here is the Patriots Practice Squad in full:

• RB Eric Kettani
• DE/LB Markell Carter
• OL Nick McDonald
• OL Matt Kopa
• DE Aaron Lavarias
• WR Kerry Taylor
• S Ross Ventrone
• OL Thomas Welch

Kettani, Carter, Lavarias and Ventrone were all with the team in camp and McDonald who signed last night came from Green Bay.

Kopa, originally an undrafted free agent out of Stanford, had signed with San Francisco in 2010.  He spent time on the 49ers practice squad and on the Miami Dolphins 53-man roster but didn’t see any game action.  Miami released him on Saturday.

Taylor was signed as an undrafted free agent this summer by Green Bay out of Arizona State, he was released on Saturday.

Welch was originally a 7^th round pick of New England in 2010 out of Vanderbilt.  He was released by the Pats in the final cutdown last season and went to Minnesota as a practice squad player.  He was elevated to the 53-man roster in December but did not play in any of the remaining games.  The Vikings released him on Saturday.

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The New England Patriots added a fifth player to the practice squad late Sunday evening when they signed OL Nick McDonald. 

McDonald, an undrafted free agent in 2010 out of Grand Valley State, was signed by the Green Bay Packers and all though he never played in any games he did earn a Super Bowl XLV Championship ring.

On Saturday, he was waived by Green Bay during the final cut downs for the 53-man roster.  McDonald signed with New England after having several offers with other teams.

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The New England Patriots and the rest of the NFL are scouring the waiver list looking for players who they feel are an upgrade of what they have as well as potential practice squad players.

Remember players practice but can not play in games unless signed and moved to the 53-man roster.  They also can be signed by any of the other 31 teams at any time as they are considered to be free agents.

The Patriots have signed the following players to their practice squad:

• S Ross Ventrone
• DE Alex Silvestro
• LB/DE Markell Carter
• DL Aaron Lavarias

New England was also prepared to sign TE Lee Smith and TE Will Yeatman but they ended up being claimed by AFC East foes.  Smith, a 5^th round draft pick, was claimed by the Buffalo Bills, while Yeatman, an undrafted free agent, was claimed by the Miami Dolphins.  Also claimed today was WR Brandon Tate by the Cincinnati Bengals.

S Brandon Meriweather has already signed with the Chicago Bears today as well.  OL Thomas Austin was claimed off waivers by the Houston Texans, as was DL Landon Cohen by the Seattle Seahawks.

Former Patriots QB Kevin O’Connell, released the other day by Miami, was claimed by the New York Jets where he played the last two seasons.

There’s speculation that the Patriots are looking to add a fullback/tight end type to the practice squad.  I also don’t think Bill Belichick and his staff is done as far as tweaking the roster.  I really think you’ll see a veteran tight end, someone who is knowledgeable of the type of offensive system they run, get signed and don’t rule out Alge Crumpler.

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The New England Patriots like every other NFL team is busy this holiday weekend working trying to fine tune it’s roster with slight tweaks here and there.  Bill Belichick who is a master tweaker got started early on Sunday morning when he signed RG Brian Waters.

Waters, who was released by Kansas City in July, is a five-time Pro Bowl selection including last season when none other than the Patriots staff coached him in the Pro Bowl.  He has also been named twice as a NFL All-Pro.

With injuries to OL Dan Connolly and OL Ryan Wendell he can step immediately.  He is pretty familiar with the New England system as he played under former Patriots coordinator Charlie Weiss last season with the Chiefs.

The 34-year old Waters played 11 seasons in Kansas City after being undrafted in 2000 out of North Texas.  In 2009 he was the recipient of the “Walter Payton Man of the Year Award” for contributions on and off the field.

The Patriots also announced that they claimed LS Danny Aiken off of waivers from the Buffalo Bills.  NFLDraftScout.com rated Aiken, who is a rookie out of Virginia, as the Number 1 long snapper available in this year’s draft.  He was the only long snapper invited to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis in February.

He signed with the Bills after the lockout ended in July.

In order to make room on the 53-man roster the Patriots released OL Steve Maneri and LS James Dearth.  Dearth was just signed as a free agent about a week ago to replace Matt Katula, while Maneri spent the entire camp with the team in Foxboro.

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Today was cutdown day today and Bill Belichick and his staff released 15 players, placed 3 on the PUP list, 1 on the non-football injury list and 1 on the Injured Reserve to get to the NFL limit of the 53-man roster.

Here are the players, that for now, are the 2011 New England Patriots:

Quarterbacks – 3

• Tom Brady
• Brian Hoyer
• Ryan Mallett

Running Backs – 4

• BenJarvus Green-Ellis
• Danny Woodhead
• Shane Vereen
• Stevan Ridley

Tight Ends – 2

• Aaron Hernandez
• Rob Gronkowski

Wide Receivers – 6

• Deion Branch
• Wes Welker
• Chad Ochocinco
• Taylor Price
• Julian Edelman
• Matthew Slater

Offensive Line – 8

• Matt Light
• Sebastian Vollmer
• Logan Mankins
• Dan Koppen
• Dan Connolly
• Ryan Wendell
• Nate Solder
• Steve Maneri

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Defensive End – 5

• Andre Carter
• Shaun Ellis
• Mike Wright
• Mark Anderson
• Jermaine Cunningham

Defensive Tackle – 5

• Vince Wilfork
• Albert Haynesworth
• Kyle Love
• Myron Pryor
• Gerard Warren

Linebackers – 7

• Jerod Mayo
• Brandon Spikes
• Rob Ninkovich
• Gary Guyton
• Dane Fletcher
• Jeff Tarpinian
• Tracy White

Cornerbacks – 6

• Devin McCourty
• Leigh Bodden
• Ras-I Dowling
• Kyle Arrington
• Darius Butler
• Antwaun Molden

Safety – 4

• Patrick Chung
• Sergio Brown
• Josh Barrett
• James Ihedigbo

Specialists – 3

• Stephen Gostkowski – PK
• Zoltan Mesko – P
• James Dearth – LS

The New England Patriots like the other 31 NFL teams are in cut down mode.  They have to have their roster paired to the 53-man regular season limit by today’s 6 p.m. deadline.

They started on Friday afternoon by letting 8 players go, they were:

• LB Ricky Brown
• OL Jonathan Compas
• DL Darryl Richard
• TE Carson Butler
• WR Buddy Farnham
• OL Mike Berry
• RB Richard Medlin
• OL Corey Woods

That brought the roster from 80 to 72, with 19 more to come today.   Players receiving the bad news today were:

• S Brandon Meriweather
• WR Brandon Tate
• RB Sammy Morris
• TE Lee Smith
• DE Markell Carter
• DE Aaron Lavarias
• DE Eric Moore
• WR Tiquan Underwood
• DE Alex Silvestro
• DL Landon Cohen
• LB Niko Koutouvides
• RB Eric Kettani
• OL Thomas Austin
• DB Ross Ventrone
• TE Will Yeatman

Three players were placed on the Reserve/PUP list.  They are ineligible for games until Week 7, which for the Patriots is their bye week.  They are:

• RB Kevin Faulk
• DL Brandon Deadrick
• DL Ron Brace

Place on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list was:

• OL Marcus Cannon

Placed on the season ending Injured Reserve was:

• OL Rich Ohrnberger

Remember these names because teams can establish their practice quads tomorrow and as many as 8 of these players could return as part of that squad.

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Are you a Patriots fan looking for a little late summer quickie vacation?  Well I have a suggestion.  How about opening day in Miami?

Yup, that’s right why not kick off the 2011 NFL season on the road in Miami when our New England Patriots face the Dolphins on Monday Night Football on September 12.

According to ProFootballTalk.com the Miami Dolphins have about 3,000 tickets available for Week 1 AFC East match up with the Patriots.  And if you know any Tennessee Titans fans there’s 15,000 tickets left for the Week 2 match up at Sun Life Stadium.

If the Dolphins don’t sell out the game on Monday Night it will be there first non-sell out in 102 games which is almost 13 full seasons.  And more importantly to football fans in South Florida the game will be blacked out meaning no Monday Night Football.

If you’re interested in tickets you can get them through Ticketmaster’s website.

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