Bill Belichick didn't disappoint. The Patriots' coach stayed true to form and shocked the football world by releasing veteran WR Deion Branch and backup QB Brian Hoyer on Friday evening.
The rest of the final cuts were mostly expected, though it will be interesting to see who returns kicks after rookie RB Jeff Demps was placed on injured reserve with a leg injury.
Here's a look at the 53-man ... or in this case, 52-man roster:
QB (2) -- Tom Brady (13th year, Michigan), Ryan Mallett (2nd year, Arkansas).
RB (4) -- Stevan Ridley (2nd year LSU), Shane Vereen (2nd year, California), Danny Woodhead (5th year, Chadron State), Brandon Bolden (rookie, Mississippi).
TE (4) -- Rob Gronkowski (3rd year, Arizona), Aaron Hernandez (3rd year, Florida), Daniel Fells (6th year, California-Davis), Visanthe Shiancoe (10th year, Morgan State).
WR (4) -- Wes Welker (9th year, Texas Tech), Brandon Lloyd (10th year, Illinois), Julian Edelman (4th year, Kent State), Matthew Slater (5th year, UCLA).
OL (8) -- Logan Mankins (8th year, Fresno State), Sebastian Vollmer (4th year, Houston), Nate Solder (2nd year, Colorado), Dan Connolly (7th year, Southeast Missouri), Ryan Wendell (4th year, Fresno State), Marcus Cannon (2nd year, Texas Christian), Nick McDonald (3rd year, Grand Valley State), Donald Thomas (5th year, Connecticut).
DL (11) -- Vince Wilfork (9th year, Miami), Kyle Love (3rd year, Mississippi State), Ron Brace (4th year, Boston College), Justin Francis (rookie, Rutgers), Brandon Deaderick (3rd year, Alabama), Chandler Jones (rookie, Syracuse), Jake Bequette (rooke, Arkansas), Rob Ninkovich (7th year, Purdue), Jermaine Cunningham (3rd year, Florida), Trevor Scott (5th year, Buffalo), Marcus Forston (rookie, Miami).
LB (6) -- Dont'a Hightower (rookie, Alabama), Brandon Spikes (3rd year, Florida), Jerod Mayo (5th year, Tennessee), Bobby Carpenter (7th year, Ohio State), Mike Rivera (2nd year, Kansas), Tracy White (10th year, Howard).
DB (10) -- Devin McCourty (3rd year, Rutgers), Ras-I Dowling (2nd year, Virginia), Kyle Arrington (4th year, Hofstra), Sterling Moore (2nd year, Southern Methodist), Marquice Cole (4th year, Northwestern), Nate Ebner (rookie, Ohio State), Patrick Chung (4th year, Oregon), Steve Gregory (7th year, Syracuse), Tavon Wilson (rookie, Illinois), Alfonzo Dennard (rookie, Nebraska).
Special teams (3) -- Stephen Gostkowski (7th year, Memphis), Zoltan Mesko (3rd year, Michigan), Danny Aiken (2nd year, Virgina).
Nick Underhill covers the Patriots for MassLive.com. Follow him on Twitter @CBSSportsNFLNE or @nick_underhill.
