Cruel Irony
Who at NFL headquarters decided to assign the weekend before Labor Day as the cut down deadline for the 53 man roster? Sicko.
Anyway, given that there are so many different sources for player updates, the following is not intended to be a comprehensive list of the released players but just my own thoughts regarding players I've been following for a while.
- ARI - Mr. Irrelevant?!?! NOOO!!! - ARI cut Caleb Wilson, TE out of UCLA, the final pick of the 2019 draft. I wonder if he still gets to keep the prizes he got for being last pick. OL William Sweet has a fan club for this past draft but I guess ARI brass wasn’t in it.
- ATL – The Danny Etling experiment may be over as the former LSU QB turned TE turned QB was released. He will pop up somewhere.
- BAL – Former 1st round draft pick Shane Ray: go back and watch his college footage at Mizzou and let me know when you see why he was free so much to make all those sacks… (Hint - that reason is now in the NFC East). My WR1 Antoine Wesley is now available…we will see where he lands.
- BUF– Draft pick Tyree Jackson was waived but we’ll likely see him on the PS. Shady, not so much, but he’s already latched onto the Chiefs. Two ROI casualties, Duke Williams from a few years back and David Sills V, last year with the second lowest ROI of the year, were both let go.
- CIN – Former HS QB Tony Lippert lead the Big 10 in receiving yards his final year before the draft so, of course, the league drafts him in at CB, his part time position at Michigan State. Moving over the line back to WR would make too much sense, of course. That is our NFL.
- CLE – No beef with their cuts despite them letting loose Damon Sheehy-Giuseppi after a fairy tale summer for the pro “walk-on”.
- DAL – DraftTwitter will not have Mitch Hyatt to kick around anymore. He can go on to his career in finance now. I really liked Mike Jackson out of the U but, alas, at least his dad Joe (who I had as my top DE in the last draft) made the squad.
- DEN – I was a big fam of Khalfani Muhammad as a RB out of Cal a couple of years back and he had a productive pre-season but DEN has decent depth there already. Hope he can latch on after this summer’s audition. QB Brett Rypien had his fans, unfortunately they were not in Elway’s circle. Dadi Nichols was a DraftTwitter darling a few years back, now looking for his next opportunity.
- DET – The Lions are deep at WR but to keep Old Dominion WR Travis Fulgham and cut his clearly more talented former teammate in college and the pros, Jonathan Duhart is a mystery to me. I know teams look for high ceilings but I’ll take the high floor in this case. Hope Duhart latches on. He had a very nice college reel. We won’t talk about Teez Tabor – I will just go to say that I was told the old “you’re overthinking this” line when I questioned his skill set for the next level during his draft process. Always trust yourself and don’t let anyone talk you out of your player grade, boys and girls. Jordan Lasley…dude threw a football into a pond during practice so not surprised here. He was a top ROI guy so disappointed, but not surprised.
- GB – My son literally cheered in the middle of a restaurant when he saw Kizer was gone. Also gone is OT Gerhard de Beer who went to high school in South Africa where, you know, they don’t really play our football Hey, they rolled the dice.
- HOU – Trades, notwithstanding, the Texans waived one of my favorite sleepers Derrick Baity Jr, CB out of Kentucky. Hope he doesn’t sleep too long before someone comes calling. Evidently, Watson wanted to settle all family business and QBs Ta’amu and Webb were whacked. CB Boddy-Calhoun has starting experience so teams will likely pick him off the heap.
- KC – A couple of QBs I really like were dumped in Chase Litton and rookie Kyle Shurmur, both I believe had fairly good preseasons. I especially expect to hear from Shurmur down the road as he is a coaches son with a bit of Brett Favre in him. I would expect to see him on the PS.
- LAC - Artavis Scott drafted out of Clemson was cut by the Chargers after missing his rookie season due to injury. We’ll see if he lands on the PS. Cardale Jones was finally uprooted by Easton Stick, the man who held down the fort in college while Carson Wentz was injured for most of his senior season (shocking, I know). A couple of years under Ol’ Hickory at QB and Stick could be the future of the Chargers
- LAR – Wonder if they made Cooper fire Ketner Kupp? Should be in the contract that you have to fire siblings on your team. Oh well. Leading FCS ROI WR Khadarel Hodge blew up this preseason so I expect to see him back at some point here.
- MIN - Treadwell was cut by Minnesota. He was argued as WR1 however after looking at him more closely after his ROI efficiency was substantially below average. Bisi Johnson (not included on the cutdown list) and his exceptional ROI may have helped them to finally pull the trigger on LT. We will see if he can latch on anywhere else.
- NE – The OL picks just haven’t panned out with them dumping Martez Ivey, Tyree St. Louis and Yodny Cajuste. Maybe Belichick just couldn’t pronounce their names.
- NYG – With DJ being drafted in the first round, dropping Lauletta was a foregone conclusion. WR TJ Jones had solid efficiency numbers as a Lion but teams didn’t get him the ball enough for that efficiency to translate. He’ll latch on somewhere.
- NYJ – The cuts reflect a sort of bloodletting by the new GM Joe Douglass who jettisoned many recent draft picks including two much maligned 2019 selections by his predecessor. Hoping the team turns the page.
- PHI – Eli Harold was a big favorite coming out of UVA but it never panned out with him getting cut by his fourth team going into his fifth season.
- SF – Former Michigan QB Wilton Speight didn’t make the 53 and we will see if he latches on to the PS for further development.
- SEA – Jazz Ferguson was released but will no doubt be signed to the PS to provide a security blanket for when D.K. Metcalf can’t go due to injury. Geno Smith was cut but with absolutely no leverage, he will take whatever contract they give him as they have just on QB on the roster and he has no other options. What a sad match.
- TB – Long list they have includes such names as OLB Noah Spence, Vincent “Don’t call me Vinnie” Testaverde and former starting RB Andre Ellington. Former Mississippi State QB Nick Fitzgerald, LSU DB John Battle and DraftTwitter darling WR Emmanuel Hall were all assigned to the PS. The fate of 6th round pick Scotty Miller is at this point unclear as he was plagued with hamstring issues this preseason.
- TEN –OL Hroniss Grasu has never quite put it together after leaving Oregon. Logan Woodside his proven his ability this offseason so he will likely land on a PS.
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