When comprising a 53-man roster, and then a 46-man game-day roster, coaches often cite the importance of special teams. Backups at various positions have a better chance of being active on game-day if they play on fourth down.
The core four units are kickoff return, kickoff coverage, punt return and punt coverage and here are the Patriots players who showed up on most units in Monday's season-opening win over the Dolphins:
Four units
LB Dane Fletcher
S James Ihedigbo
WR Matthew Slater (team captain)
LB Tracy White
Three units
CB Kyle Arrington
S Josh Barrett
S Sergio Brown
Two units
S Patrick Chung
KR/PR Julian Edelman
LB Gary Guyton
CB Devin McCourty
CB Antwaun Molden
LB/DE Rob Ninkovich
RB Danny Woodhead