‘Coach wants to see you’

Some players will fear the reaper this weekend

 NFL. He goes by several different names: the Turk, the Assassin, the Grim Reaper.
Whatever his name, he’s the last guy an NFL player wants to see heading toward him this time of year. He’s the one who will tell you: “Coach wants to see you. Bring your playbook.” It means you’re about to be released.

After last night’s game, the Patriots need to cut from 76 players to 54 by tomorrow (they have one extra roster spot because, technically, cornerback Asante Samuel has not yet been activated). It means there will be plenty of guys looking to hide when the Turk comes looking.

In his first season as an assistant — 1975 — Bill Belichick was the Turk for the Baltimore Colts, and soon got the nickname Billy Bad News. It was a tough job then, Belichick said, and more than 30 years later, it’s still difficult.

“Guys that are working hard that are putting everything they have into it that have been with you for however long they’ve been with you — whether it’s a year or more than that, all through the spring and so forth — when you have to release a player like that, it’s the worst part of the job,” Belichick said. “But it’s a necessary part because we have to comply with the roster limit, so that’s the way it goes.”

While none of the players are willing to give up the identity of the man who does the deed for the Patriots, there does seem to be a pattern as to how the Patriots go about notifying the players. Players say that a club official — either a scout or assistant — is the one to greet them at the door to the training facility with the bad news. If you walk past cleanly, that means you can breathe easy. If you get stopped, it’s bad news.

Linebacker Chad Brown has already been cut loose once by the Patriots — in September 2006, one of the last cuts of that preseason — and knows this weekend will be a stressful one for guys on the bubble.

“You walk in the front door and you see that guy by the front door, and he’s usually for someone else. But that day, he was for me,” said Brown, who re-signed with the Patriots on July 19.

“So, I can identify with that. The uncertainty of it can be tough.”