With the NFL season just around the corner, that can only mean one thing: heads need to roll. After preseason and training camp, NFL teams have trimmed down their bloated roster to 53 players today, leading to some surprising players getting cut.
Today (NFL Cut Day) must be the biggest layoff day across all American sports as hundreds of NFL players, who were on their respective team’s roster only a day ago, have now been cut in order for their former teams to be complaint with the NFL’s 53-man roster limitations.
Usually, it is the undrafted, late round picks, and/or undeveloped mid/early round picks from years ago that have been cut in mass on this day in years past, but that’s not always the case.
Sometimes, there are some notable, household veteran names that are surprisingly released from their respective teams, even though many in the have already media penciled their names for opening day depth charts.
And today was no different.
Kansas City WR Josh Gordon, Buffalo Bills TE O.J. Howard, Las Vegas Raiders OL Alex Leatherwood, Indianapolis Colts RB Philip Lindsay, and Philadelphia Eagles Safety Anthony Harris have all been cut by their respective teams, even though all were expected to make the starting roster.
In the case of Howard, Harris, and Lindsay, the reason why they were cut is pretty simple: injury.
All of them were superstars in this league (Howard with Tampa Bay, Harris with Minnesota, and Lindsay with Denver) at one point in time and would have easily of made a roster if it wasn’t for injuries hampering their skills, endurance, and durability. It’s sad to see, but common, nonetheless. I’m sure these guys will find a spot on a roster when the NFL season gets going and injuries to starters begin piling up.
Alex Leatherwood’s case is a little different as he is simply a bust. Drafted 17th overall in the 2021 draft by Jon Gruden (another one of Gruden’s brilliant draft picks) and the Las Vegas Raiders, Leatherwood never adjusted to the NFL game as Pro Football Focus ranked him last season as the 80th best guards out of 82 eligible guards in the NFL. Yeah, he wasn’t great at protecting Derek Carr.
Obviously, the Raiders were able to find a better guard this offseason and have cut Leatherwood in response.
Finally, Josh Gordon’s case is the definitely the saddest and most tragic out of all these players. Josh Gordon has been one of the most talented WR in the NFL ever since his breakout rookie season in 2012, though his substance abuse demons have haunted and derailed his career. It seems those demons have finally gotten the better of Gordon’s talent as the Chiefs cut the WR, even though he’s only 31 years old.
There were some other notable moves, such as Jimmy Garoppolo staying with the 49ers as a backup on a restructured contract and the Saints trading Chauncey Gardner-Johnson to the Eagles, but that was pretty much it on this frantic day in the NFL.
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