2016 New England Patriots season

2016 New England Patriots season
Head coach	Bill Belichick
Owner	Robert Kraft
Home field	Gillette Stadium
Uniform

The 2016 New England Patriots season will be the franchise's 47th season in the National Football league, the 57th overall and the 17th under head coach Bill Belichick. The Patriots will attempt to win their 8th consecutive AFC East title as well as win a fifth Super Bowl championship. Due to Deflategate, star quarterback Tom Brady will miss the start of the season with a four-game suspension.

Roster changes

Two-time Pro Bowl linebacker and 2008 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Jerod Mayo announced his retirement in February.^[1] Linebacker Dane Fletcher also retired.^[2] In March, the Patriots released wide receiver Brandon LaFell and tight end Scott Chandler.^[3] The Patriots subsequently traded Pro Bowl defensive end Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for guard Jonathan Cooper and a 2016 second-round draft pick.^[4] Days later the Patriots acquired tight end Martellus Bennett from the Chicago Bears via trade.^[5]

Free agency

• Notable departures: Tavon Wilson, Akiem Hicks, Sealver Siliga, Brian Tyms

• Notable additions: Ramon Humber, Frank Kearse, Chris Hogan, Chris Long, Donald Brown, Shea McClellin, Nate Washington, E. J. Biggers, Clay Harbor, Terrance Knighton, Markus Kuhn

Draft

2016 New England Patriots Draft

Round	Selection	Player	Position	College
2	60	Cyrus Jones	CB	Alabama
3	78	Joe Thuney	G	N.C. State
3	91	Jacoby Brissett	QB	N.C. State
3	96	Vincent Valentine	DT	Nebraska
4	112	Malcolm Mitchell	WR	Georgia
6	208	Kamu Grugier-Hill	SS/OLB	Eastern Illinois
6	214	Elandon Roberts	MLB	Houston
6	221	Ted Karras	G	Illinois
7	225	Devin Lucien	WR	Arizona State

Compensatory selection

Notes

• The Patriots will forfeit their first-round selection as part of the punishment for the team's Deflategate scandal. The team will also forfeit a 2017 fourth-round selection.
• The Patriots traded defensive end Chandler Jones to the Arizona Cardinals in exchange for guard Jonathan Cooper and Arizona's second-round selection (No. 61 overall).
• The Patriots traded their fourth-round selection (No. 127 overall) to the Chicago Bears in exchange for a sixth-round selection (No. 204 overall) and tight end Martellus Bennett.
• The Patriots traded their fifth-round selection to the Houston Texans in exchange for wide receiver Keshawn Martin and the Texans' 2016 sixth-round selection.
• The Patriots traded one of their two sixth-round selections to the Chicago Bears in exchange for linebacker Jon Bostic.
• The Patriots acquired an additional seventh-round selection in a trade that sent quarterback Ryan Mallett to the Houston Texans.

Staff

New England Patriots staff
	Front office Chairman/CEO – Robert Kraft President – Jonathan Kraft Director of Player Personnel – Nick Caserio Director of College Scouting – Monti Ossenfort Director of Scouting Administration – Nancy Meier Director of Pro Scouting – Dave Ziegler Assistant Director of Pro Scouting – Vacant Football Research Director – Ernie Adams Assistant to the Coaching Staff – Michael Lombardi Director of Football/Head Coach Administration - Berj Najarian Head coaches Head Coach/General Manager – Bill Belichick Offensive Coaches Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks – Josh McDaniels Assistant Quarterbacks - Jerry Schuplinski Running Backs – Ivan Fears Wide Receivers – Chad O'Shea Tight Ends – Brian Daboll Offensive Line – Dante Scarnecchia			Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator – Matt Patricia Defensive Line – Brendan Daly Linebackers – Brian Flores Cornerbacks – Josh Boyer Safeties – Steve Belichick Special Teams Coaches Special Teams – Joe Judge Assistant Special Teams – Raymond Ventrone Strength and Conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Moses Cabrera Assistant Strength and Conditioning – James Hardy → Coaching staff → Management → More NFL staffs
AFC East BUF MIA NE NYJ North BAL CIN CLE PIT South HOU IND JAX TEN West DEN KC OAK SD NFC East DAL NYG PHI WAS North CHI DET GB MIN South ATL CAR NO TB West ARI LA SF SEA

Current roster

New England Patriots roster
Quarterbacks 12 Tom Brady  7 Jacoby Brissett 10 Jimmy Garoppolo Running backs 29 LeGarrette Blount 38 Brandon Bolden 34 Donald Brown 46 James Develin FB -- D. J. Foster WR 36 Tyler Gaffney 33 Dion Lewis 28 James White Wide receivers 80 Danny Amendola PR 16 DeAndre Carter 17 Aaron Dobson 11 Julian Edelman 14 Chris Harper 15 Chris Hogan -- Devin Lucien 82 Keshawn Martin KR 19 Malcolm Mitchell 18 Matthew Slater 84 Nate Washington Tight ends 83 Martellus Bennett 86 A. J. Derby 87 Rob Gronkowski 88 Clay Harbor -- Steven Scheu 81 Bryce Williams 85 Michael Williams		Offensive linemen 60 David Andrews C 64 Chris Barker G 61 Marcus Cannon T 65 Jonathan Cooper G 71 Cameron Fleming T 63 Tre' Jackson G -- Ted Karras G 67 Josh Kline G 69 Shaq Mason G 74 Keavon Milton T 77 Nate Solder T 66 Bryan Stork C 62 Joe Thuney G 76 Sebastian Vollmer T 68 LaAdrian Waddle T Defensive linemen 97 Alan Branch DT 90 Malcom Brown DT 98 Trey Flowers DE 92 Geneo Grissom DE -- Woodrow Hamilton DT 59 Rufus Johnson DE 72 Frank Kearse DT 96 Terrance Knighton DT 94 Markus Kuhn DT 95 Chris Long DE 50 Rob Ninkovich DE 93 Jabaal Sheard DE 99 Vincent Valentine DT 70 Joe Vellano DT		Linebackers 52 Jon Bostic MLB 91 Jamie Collins OLB 55 Jonathan Freeny OLB 54 Dont'a Hightower MLB 53 Ramon Humber OLB -- C. J. Johnson OLB 58 Shea McClellin OLB -- Elandon Roberts MLB 45 Kevin Snyder MLB 44 Tony Steward OLB Defensive backs -- V'Angelo Bentley CB 39 E. J. Biggers CB 21 Malcolm Butler CB 23 Patrick Chung SS 22 Justin Coleman CB 43 Nate Ebner SS -- Kamu Grugier-Hill SS 30 Duron Harmon FS 24 Cyrus Jones CB -- Jonathan Jones CB 36 Brandon King SS -- Cre'von LeBlanc CB 32 Devin McCourty FS 37 Jordan Richards SS 27 Darryl Roberts CB 26 Logan Ryan CB 41 Cedric Thompson FS 35 Brock Vereen FS Special teams  6 Ryan Allen P 49 Joe Cardona LS  3 Stephen Gostkowski K 42 Christian Yount LS				Reserve lists Currently vacant Unrestricted FAs 25 Tarell Brown CB -- Brandon Gibson WR -- Kevin Hughes T -- Steven Jackson RB -- Dekoda Watson OLB -- Ryan Wendell G Rookies in italics Roster updated May 6, 2016 Depth Chart • Transactions 90 Active, 0 Inactive, 6 FAs → AFC rosters → NFC rosters
AFC East BUF MIA NE NYJ North BAL CIN CLE PIT South HOU IND JAX TEN West DEN KC OAK SD NFC East DAL NYG PHI WAS North CHI DET GB MIN South ATL CAR NO TB West ARI LA SF SEA

Schedule

Preseason

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	TV	NFL.com recap
1	August 11	7:30 p.m. EDT	New Orleans Saints			Gillette Stadium	WBZ
2	August 18	8:00 p.m. EDT	Chicago Bears			Gillette Stadium	WBZ
3	August 26	7:30 p.m. EDT	at Carolina Panthers			Bank of America Stadium	WBZ
4	September 1	7:00 p.m. EDT	at New York Giants			MetLife Stadium	WBZ

Regular season

Week	Date	Kickoff	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	TV	NFL.com recap
1	September 11	8:30 p.m. EDT	at Arizona Cardinals			University of Phoenix Stadium	NBC
2	September 18	1:00 p.m. EDT	Miami Dolphins			Gillette Stadium	CBS
3	September 22	8:25 p.m. EDT	Houston Texans			Gillette Stadium	CBS/NFLN/Twitter
4	October 2	1:00 p.m. EDT	Buffalo Bills			Gillette Stadium	CBS
5	October 9	1:00 p.m. EDT	at Cleveland Browns			FirstEnergy Stadium	CBS
6	October 16	1:00 p.m. EDT	Cincinnati Bengals			Gillette Stadium	CBS
7	October 23	4:25 p.m. EDT	at Pittsburgh Steelers			Heinz Field	CBS
8	October 30	1:00 p.m. EDT	at Buffalo Bills			Ralph Wilson Stadium	CBS
9	Bye
10	November 13	8:30 p.m. EST	Seattle Seahawks			Gillette Stadium	NBC
11	November 20	4:25 p.m. EST	at San Francisco 49ers			Levi's Stadium	CBS
12	November 27	8:30 p.m. EST	at New York Jets			MetLife Stadium	NBC
13	December 4	1:00 p.m. EST	Los Angeles Rams			Gillette Stadium	Fox
14	December 12	8:30 p.m. EST	Baltimore Ravens			Gillette Stadium	ESPN
15	December 18	4:25 p.m. EST	at Denver Broncos			Sports Authority Field at Mile High	CBS
16	December 24	1:00 p.m. EST	New York Jets			Gillette Stadium	CBS
17	January 1	1:00 p.m. EST	at Miami Dolphins			New Miami Stadium	CBS

Notes

• Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
• Networks and times for Sunday games from Weeks 5–17 are subject to change as a result of flexible scheduling.

References

1. "Players pay tribute to Jerod Mayo after retirement news". Patriots.com. 2016-02-17. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
2. "SOURCE: LB DANE FLETCHER CHOOSING TO RETIRE". WEEI 93.7 FM. 2016-03-09. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
3. "Patriots release TE Scott Chandler and WR Brandon LaFell". Patriots.com. 2016-03-02. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
4. "Patriots acquire G Jonathan Cooper and a 2016 second-round draft pick in a trade with Arizona for DE Chandler Jones". Patriots.com. 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2016-04-08.
5. "Patriots acquire TE Martellus Bennett in a trade with Chicago". Patriots.com. 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2016-04-08.

External links

• Official website