FOXBOROUGH - With nine practices in the books, four of those coming in pads, the Patriots took the weekend to recharge ahead of Wednesday’s joint practices with Washington and Friday’s preseason opener with the Commanders. After taking in all of those practices, some things have become clearer with respect to the team, others not so much.

In less than four weeks, the Patriots will cut their 91-man roster down to 53 players. For once, they should have some hard decisions. An offseason influx of free-agent and rookie talent restocked the shelves well enough at 1 Patriot Place for Mike Vrabel to stoke real competition at several positions in training camp.