Patriots Sign Troy Hill, Waive Asante Cleveland: Latest Details, Reaction

The New England Patriots announced they have released tight end Asante Cleveland and wide receiver Leonard Hankerson. They also signed cornerback Troy Hill, who was cut by the Cincinnati Bengals, and promoted wide receiver Chris Harper from the practice squad.

Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk initially reported the news.

It's rough timing for the reserve tight end Cleveland, who got cut on Christmas Day, but New England made the move to create roster space so they could pick up Hill off waivers. Cleveland caught just "one pass in four games" with the team this year.

Hill recorded "six total tackles in three games" with Cincinnati before being waived to make room for cornerback Chris Lewis-Harris. 

While the move seems harsh to many, ESPN's Mike Reiss helped clear things up:

"

The Patriots have regularly juggled the back end of their roster under Bill Belichick (2000-present) while shuffling players between the practice squad and roster to account for specific game-day needs or to better distribute depth...there's no doubt in my mind that Cleveland will be re-signed to the practice squad should he clear waivers.

"

The Patriots made the move because they have had depth problems at the cornerback position all season. Before the move to sign Hill, New England had just four healthy cornerbacks listed on their unofficial depth chart. Only two of them, Pro Bowler Malcolm Butler and Logan Ryan, have appeared in more than 10 games.

They've seen Tarell Brown and Darryl Roberts go down with season-ending injuries as well. Roberts was lost before the regular season even started due to wrist surgery. So Hill will add another body as a security blanket just in case another corner goes down. 

Stats courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com.