FOXBORO — On NFL cutdown day, no information is sweet information for roster hopefuls like Dell Pettus.
Pettus, an undrafted rookie security out of Troy, came upon he’d made the Patriots’ preliminary 53-man roster when … nicely, nobody advised him that he hadn’t.
“I didn’t get a telephone name,” a smiling Pettus stated earlier than Wednesday’s follow. “I simply knew the deadline was 4 p.m. (Tuesday), and I didn’t get a telephone name. 4 p.m. hit, I form of simply sat round and appeared, like, ‘What’s occurring?’ I obtained a name from Brenden Schooler and someone else who went by means of this course of, and we talked on the telephone. I used to be like, ‘I didn’t get a name.’ He’s like, ‘Then you definately’re good, man.’”
Schooler, New England’s standout particular teamer, sweated out the identical interminable wait in 2022 earlier than studying he’d cracked the roster as an undrafted rookie. No UDFAs made the lower final summer season, ending the franchise’s 19-year streak with no less than one on the Week 1 roster.
Pettus was the one Patriots UDFA to outlive this 12 months’s roster cutdown. After flashing playmaking capability and certain tackling throughout coaching camp and the preseason, he’ll present depth in a veteran-laden place group alongside Jabrill Peppers, Kyle Dugger, Jaylinn Hawkins and Schooler. (Second-year professional Marte Mapu will start the season on injured reserve and may return in Week 5.)
“I don’t know how one can put it into phrases,” stated Pettus, who spent a lot of Tuesday taking part in “School Soccer 25” to distract himself. “I’m not likely a talkative individual in that means. However simply having that second for me and realizing that my goals are beginning to come to actuality, I didn’t know what to do aside from to thank God.”
“Beginning to” is the important thing phrase there. Nonetheless miffed that he wasn’t among the many 257 gamers drafted after a school profession that included 61 consecutive begins, Pettus stated he’s not glad with simply making an NFL roster.
“Truthfully, I used to be pissed off as a result of I felt like I ought to have been chosen greater, or simply chosen usually,” the 23-year-old stated. “However God has a plan for everyone, and I simply stored that chip on my shoulder that I felt like I used to be slighted. And actually, that chip isn’t gone, as a result of I’m right here, I’ve obtained my foot within the door, however I’m not completed. I really feel that wholeheartedly. I’ve obtained a variety of targets for myself. I’ve obtained a variety of ambition and drive, and I’m going to take it daily and proceed to indicate all people why I’m alleged to be right here.”
He’s made a powerful impression up to now. Throughout the leadup to ultimate cuts, head coach Jerod Mayo stated Pettus was doing a “incredible job.” Peppers, one of many leaders of New England’s protection, raved in regards to the rookie on Wednesday.
“He’s simply fixed enchancment each day,” Peppers stated. “Capacity to use the classroom to the sphere, ask the suitable questions, aggressive, exhibits he’s instinctive, robust. He’s simply actually coachable, man. He doesn’t actually make the identical errors twice. He asks a variety of questions, and he simply did an actual good job of shopping for into the usual in that security room. … Then you definately add within the capability to play particular groups — I feel he had a pair particular groups tackles (within the preseason) — and that’s worth. I used to be undoubtedly comfortable for him.”
The Patriots’ total eight-player draft class additionally made the preliminary 53 — and thru the second spherical of cuts that got here after New England claimed 4 gamers off post-cutdown waivers. That hadn’t occurred for the reason that late Nineties.
“I actually wasn’t shocked by it,” sixth-round cornerback Marcellas Dial stated, “as a result of I really feel like this rookie class is a category filled with ballers.”
