On Wednesday afternoon, version 2.0 of our Patriots reporters' 53-man roster projections was posted on ESPNBoston.com. Several commenters have already chimed in and contributed to the debate.

After tracking the discussion, the following attempts to answer some of the hot-button questions surrounding this reporter's projection:

1) Why Marquice Cole as the fifth cornerback? In this opinion, the team's top four cornerbacks are clear: Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, Ras-I Dowling and Sterling Moore. Most teams prefer to carry at least one more cornerback for depth purposes, and that battle comes down to Alfonzo Dennard, Cole, Malcolm Williams, Ross Ventrone and Derrick Martin. Why was Cole the choice? While he hasn't emerged as a must-keep special teams player thus far in camp, Cole has been on multiple units on special teams. On defense, Cole has practiced on both the inside (slot) and the outside. Head coach Bill Belichick prefers players who can fill a variety of roles, especially when it comes down to value on the 46-man game-day roster.

In contrast, there likely would not be a spot for Dennard on the 46-man roster, not having established himself on special teams. Hypothetically, if Dennard were inactive on a consistent basis during the regular season, and if by midseason injuries forced the Patriots to add a player at another position, Dennard's occupying a roster spot would limit the team's flexibility. Typically, teams would like to keep such inactive, "developmental" spots to a minimum on their 53-man roster, and they are probably already looking at two such spots: quarterback Ryan Mallett and defensive end Jake Bequette, both third-round picks.

In addition, Malcolm Williams has seen limited action on defense in training camp and would be a less capable fill-in defensive player than Cole. So while Dennard may have significantly greater upside on defense than Cole, and Williams may be the better special teams player, it's Cole's ability to fill multiple roles that gets him the nod.

2) Why just two tight ends? The question asked here was "didn't the Patriots try to find a third tight end this offseason?" They did, but at this point, it would make the most sense to keep Daniel Fells on the Reserve/PUP list, and have him return as early as Week 7. That outlook might have been different if Visanthe Shiancoe had a strong start to camp, but he has been sidelined with a hamstring injury and would have to rise quickly to have enough of a role in the offense to warrant a roster spot. The Patriots can afford to go their first six games without a third tight end.

3) Why James Ihedigbo and Josh Barrett, and not Will Allen or Nate Ebner? In practice, Ihedigbo has been the clear-cut fourth safety, and the feeling here is that the team values his football IQ. His main competition is Allen, whose reps have been limited lately: He hasn't been able to crack the top two units rotating on defense, and at 34, he isn't in the picture for opportunity session snaps. At this point, Ihedigbo has a major leg up on the battle and provides critical depth, especially considering rookie Tavon Wilson's role in sub packages.

If their roster were slightly larger, the Patriots surely would keep Ebner around. But after having missed the first several practices of training camp, the sixth-round pick has an uphill battle to beat out Barrett, who has been a part of all four special teams units, including a role as one of two gunners (along with Matthew Slater) on the punt team. It also seems unlikely that the Patriots would sacrifice depth at other positions to keep six safeties.