The feel-good Patriots story of the summer is over. For now.
The team is releasing whirling dervish do-it-all undrafted free agent Gunner Olszewski, according to a league source. The Division II Bemidji State product made a case for the Patriots roster in the final two weeks of preseason play, showing off his versatility, his toughness, and his ability to take coaching evidenced by a rapid rate of improvement the past month.
We had Olszewski on our most recent 53-man roster projection as a return specialist with good short-area quickness and fearlessness that was evident every time he was around the ball. He also showed up at times as a receiver, which was impressive in its own right because he was a cornerback in college. In the preseason finale, the Patriots gave him an opportunity to play on the defensive side, where he showed up with a tackle.
"Well, he's very competitive and he works hard and he's improved," Bill Belichick said Friday. "He has a long way to go but he's made a lot of improvement. He's making a big jump from where he played to where he's playing now, positionally and so forth. He's improved a great deal."
Olszewski might've shown enough on tape that he's claimed off waivers in the next 24 hours, but if not, he'd make sense to return to the Patriots on their practice squad.
There are a few reasons the Patriots might like to keep him in house. One is that he's improved so significantly that it'd be intriguing to see just how long that proverbial arrow could continue to climb with coaching in the Patriots system. The other is, based on the respect he's garnered in the locker room, the shot of energy he might provide his teammates with his daily effort.
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But there's a very practical reason it'd make sense to try to hang onto Olszewski on the practice squad: The Patriots don't appear to have a punt-return option outside of Julian Edelman at the moment.
That's a role that brings with it its share of punishment, making it a role that the Patriots might want to take away from their No. 1 receiver. At 33 years old, Edelman might be as important to the Patriots passing offense as he's ever been. Rob Gronkowski is out of the mix, and the team has several question marks at the position behind Edelman.
Would running Tom Brady's security blanket back to field punts multiple times a game make sense?
We've seen Patrick Chung field punts in the past, but he's a critical piece to the picture defensively and might not make for the most logical return option either.
One other potential returner would be undrafted rookie wideout Jakobi Meyers. He had a couple of shaky reps as a returner during joint practices with the Lions, but the Patriots have continued to give him looks in that capacity and he appears to have grown more comfortable there.
Meyers has had the best summer of any Patriots receiver -- even after a rocky third preseason game -- but he could be relegated to the fifth option at the position if the team takes the field Week 1 with Edelman, Josh Gordon, Demaryius Thomas and Phillip Dorsett or N'Keal Harry in uniform. If that's the case, Meyers' easiest road to the field might be as a punt returner.
Edelman, who missed most of training camp with a thumb injury and saw his first preseason action on Thursday, has a career punt-return average of 11.4 yards per return. Last season he returned 10 punts for 77 yards.
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